Pamela Anderson Announces She’s Cured of Hepatitis C: What Is the Disease?

Pamela Anderson was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2001. (Photo: Getty Images)

Pamela Anderson has revealed that she is cured of hepatitis C, a viral disease that affects the liver.

“I am CURED!!! - I just found out #nomorehepc” the 48-year-old actress wrote in a caption on her Instagram.

Anderson announced the news on her Instagram account on Saturday (Nov. 7). (Photo: Pamela Anderson/Instagram)

People reported earlier this summer that Anderson had started a new drug regimen approved by the Food and Drug Administration that would eradicate the virus. “I don’t have any liver damage and I don’t have any side effects,“ she told People earlier this year. "I’m living my life the way I want to but it could have eventually have caused me some problems and so it was a real blessing that I was able to get the medicine. I’m half way there.”

Anderson was diagnosed with the viral disease in 2001, and has previously said that she contracted it from sharing a tattoo needle with her former husband Tommy Lee. “Tommy has the disease and never disclosed it to me during our marriage,” Anderson said in a statement, as reported by ABC News. (However, Lee has denied having hepatitis C.)

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Back in 2003, Anderson had told Us Weekly that "I think I’ve got a good 10 years left in me, which is sad. Maybe 15, if I’m lucky. … It’s scary, but lately I’ve been feeling great. For some reason, my liver keeps getting healthier.” However, People reported at the time that many doctors were not happy with her comments about her own life expectancy, noting that thanks to hepatitis C treatment, the disease was not an early death sentence for many with the condition. At the time of these comments, People reported that Anderson was not taking the hepatitis drug Interferon, but was instead taking something made for her by her homeopathic doctor.

There are 2.7 million people in the U.S. living with chronic hepatitis C infection, though most of these people are unaware they have the disease due to lack of symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hepatitis C infection begins with acute infection — meaning it’s a short-term illness that occurs within six months of being exposed to the virus, the CDC reports. However, 75 to 85 percent of people with acute hepatitis C go on to develop long-term, chronic hepatitis C infection — which can last a person’s lifetime. The dangers of chronic hepatitis C infection include chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, and liver cancer.

Hepatitis C is spread via blood. A person can become infected through sharing needles or syringes or having blood from an infected person enter you through a cut in your skin or through your your eyes or mouth, according to the National Institutes of Health. Being born to a mother with hepatitis C, or receiving an organ transplant or blood transfusion from a donor infected with hepatitis C, can also raise the risk of contracting hepatitis C. However, the disease cannot be spread through kissing, hugging, sharing food or water, or through breast milk, according to the World Health Organization.

There are no vaccines yet for hepatitis C (though we could have one in the near future); however, there are several FDA-approved treatments. Sofosbuvir and Simeprevir are two antiviral drugs approved by the FDA in 2013. Before 2013, hepatitis C treatment typically entailed taking pegylated interferon and ribavirin (and sometimes also boceprevir and telaprevir).

Hepatitis C is one of five main types of hepatitis (in addition to hepatitis A, B, D, and E), all of which cause inflammation of the liver. Hepatitis A, B, and C are most common in the United States, and there are vaccinations to prevent hepatitis A and B, according to Banner Health. Hepatitis A leads to acute liver inflammation, and often gets better on its own; hepatitis B typically has acute and chronic variations, is spread by blood or other bodily fluids, and is especially common in people who were born or lived in Asia and Africa.

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Correction: A previous version of this article had the incorrect name of Pamela Anderson’s ex-husband, Tommy Lee.

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