Spontaneous Clearance of Hepatitis C

The Centers for Disease Control Control and Prevention reports that hepatitis C reigns as the most common form of blood-borne disease in the United States, affecting 3.2 million people. A portion of those individuals will see the infection spontaneously disappear from their body.

Significance

• Spontaneous clearance of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a relatively common occurrence. Research physicians estimate that approximately 25 percent of adults with the infection are "spontaneously " cured -- in essence, one day they have the disease, and the next, they do not. However, different studies have placed the percentage of patients experiencing this phenomenon at between 10 and 50 percent.

Acute Symptoms

• Not everyone with hepatitis C suffers symptoms. Those who do are said to have acute HCV and believed to possess stronger immune systems, displayed by the body reacting -- and warning -- against the presence of the virus. These individuals tend to spontaneously clear hepatitis C more often than others.

Sex and Age

• The virus also disappears in women much more often than men -- 40 percent compared to 19 percent. "Clearance, if it occurs, usually happens within 4 months, but may take up to 18 months, or possibly even longer," says the Hepatitis C Association. A 2007 report in the Journal of Viral hepatitis concluded that children were more likely to clear the virus earlier in the infection and at a younger age.