[Hepatitis C virus infection and alcohol]

It was thought that HCV infection was very frequent among alcoholics; some even though that this disease affected nearly 35% of this group. Now there seems to be a consensus among the main investigator groups that the correlation of hepatitis C and alcohol increases the risk of complications, cirrhosis and liver cancer included. Moreover, it's now certain that among patients with HCV infection, alcohol consumption increases the risk of death from live diseases during the first 10 years of the disease. Alcoholism is also considered a predisposing factor for HCV infection, but not for hepatitis B virus infection. Prospective studies about post-transfusional hepatitis C showed the risk of cirrhosis increases from 7.8 to 31.1 times if the patient consumed significant amounts of alcohol (> 80 g a day). One of the recommendations for every patient with HCV infection is to abstain from drinking alcohol.