The typical person here with hepatitis C is a woman who was infected when she received contaminated Anti-D immunoglobulin in the late 1970s following the birth of a child.
Now living with the disease for 25 years, she will have either mild or moderately severe liver disease as a result. But the most bothersome symptoms relate to the effect of the virus in other parts of the body. Intense and debilitating fatigue, muscle and joint pains, dry eyes and mouth, top the list. Intermittent skin rashes, lapses of memory and unrefreshing sleep also cause her problems. Typically, she will have good and bad weeks, probably a reflection of an ever-changing balance between the virus and the body's immune system.
Reflecting a frustration with medicines focusing on the liver in hepatitis C, Ms Josephine Mahony of Positive Action says: "I'm not a liver on legs; it is just part of me and I would like to be treated as a whole person. More than anything I would like some sort of quality of life back".