"Chronic HCV infection can lead to severe liver disease, liver cancer and death. Rates of progression, though initially slow, increase over time. For example, after 20 to 40 years approximately 20 per cent of those infected will develop cirrhosis of whom approximately three per cent annually will die from decompensated cirrhosis or liver cancer. Chronic HCV can be successfully cleared in at least half of patients that are treated (Department of Health, 2002; Irving, presentation to ACMD, 2008)."
Source
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, "The Primary Prevention of Hepatitis C Among Injecting Drug Users," London, United Kingdom: February 2009.
