Infected 45 years and still only F1? Is it possible?

[mike716]

Hi, guys. It's me, Mike the forum lurker, back again with another mind-twister question that will no doubt cause dissention and get me into trouble, but here goes:

Has anyone here ever heard of someone having HCV for over forty years and still being only at the F1 stage of liver fibrosis?

This is the story (I say "story" for lack of an adequate censor-passing epithet) that my hep MD has been feeding me for a year now. He says that from my medical history I probably got infected from contaminated blood when I had a motorcycle accident at the age of nineteen (I am now 65) and was transfused at the hospital that treated me for concussion.

Personally, I think this story is a lot of self-serving hooey, and that in reality I was infected by a bad dentist here in Argentina just a few years ago.

My biopsy six months ago showed F1-F2 fibrosis, but my blood markers and GGT have been going steadily upwards in a continuous progression through eight blood tests over the past 14 months, and I definitely do not have the energy I had even one year ago.

So, my hep MD thinks that I was infected 45 years ago and am a very slow progressor, and I think that I was infected a coupla years ago and am progressing rapidly.

This is not an academic question. My hospital is postponing treatment based on their diagnosis: they think I can wait a few years for a better tx. Whereas I think I may have cyrrhosis before they ever get to my next biopsy.

What say you all? Is it possible to be F1-F2 after forty-five years of HCV?

Mike

[meakea]

I'm as sure as I can be that I was infected with Hep C during a blood transfusion when I was an infant 54.5 years ago.  I didn't find out that I have Hep C until April 08 and my liver bx in May 08 was G1/S1.

When I received my Hep C diagnosis last April, I went on a mission to try to find out how long I've had it and maybe even where I got it from since I had no obvious risk factors other than the transfusion in December 1954.  I ordered all of my old medical records and I found them back to the early 70's.  I was astonished to find that my LFTs were elevated way back then and, over the course of the years, my WBCs were low -- but none of my docs ever told me about these abnormal lab results.

That takes me back to age 16 with documented elevated LFTs.  I couldn't find my medical records back any further than that but it's pretty much likely that I had Hep C for a good long time before those documented elevated LFTs in order to have elevated LFTs by age 16 -- only obvious insult was the transfusion.

So, in answer to your question, yes it is possible to be infected 54.5 years and have a Stage 1 liver.  Oh, and my viral load was 30,100 in July 08. My GI backs me up on this and he backed me up on it even before I showed him my old records.

[skersj]

I probably have had G1a for 30 years from from blood transfusion in1979 but I also had a questionable dental appt in 1975. Dentist was old then in 1975 and I am sure he was in the height of his practice in 1940's and still did not used clean syringes because I remember him using an old metal instrument that I have seen in museum archives. It really doesn't matter now. I am 50 yrs old and dx was Stage 1 Fibrosis May 1979. I started tx 8/29/08. Slow responder, on week 32 of attempting 72 weeks. I am hoping for SVR because this tx is awful but keeping my mind open for better cure for the future. I still question my decision to treat now but I really thought I would respond better. I was in great health and it just seemed like a good time in my life to try. Now I have too much time invested to quit unless medically necessary.

[fretboard]

Yes it certainly is possible.  I think I was infected in 1973 and that's a little over 35yrs and I had a bx in 2008 and there was zero fibrosis.  My bx was a zero and grade 2, so maybe most of us on this thread have the same subtype.  I consider myself lucky in that respect, but after one has had it for this long it would definitely be most important to stay on top of it.  I am waiting to tx until the new PI's come out, maybe you should do the same.  We are lucky that it's been progressing slowly, but unlucky we're infected.  good luck

[Isobella]

Looks like many of us are in the same boat.  

My best estimate is that I have had HCV for 30-40 years based on 2 possible exposures. I was diagnosed iaand biopsied in 2008...Grade 1, Stage 0.

Even more surprising about those results is the amount of alcohol drinking that was going on prior to dx.

Bottom line, for me anyway, figuring the when/how of getting this virus drives me crazy.

I also think it would make you feel better to get the second biopsy sooner rather than wait a year-  but I don't know if that is possible where you are.  Can you come back here for it??


Good luck to you, Mike.

[annieCinMD]

You and the others have got me way beat on length of time, but I believe I got it between 1980 and 1988, and have the same grade 1 stage 1 numbers. Little to no damage was what the report said. I've heard it could take up to 50 years to act up or may never act up..but then again it might and can destroy your liver. Most likely scenario is you die with it, not of it. I decided it's like living with a time bomb inside me, so I'd give tx a try.  Wasn't there a thread on here a few weeks back about "healthy, chronic carriers"?  I think that we fall into that category.

[jmjm530]

Mike,

It's always a **** shoot but unlikely you will progress from F1-2 to F4 within the next couple of years, therefore waiting for the better drugs is a reasonable option. That said, I'd personally biopsy again in 1-2 years considering your age and studies that suggest most will reach cirrhosis by around 65 regardless of infection date. Lastly, I'd get hold of your biopsy report and original slideset and have them reevaluated by a pathologist at a major U.S. teaching hospital to confirm your stage