Hepatitis C: introduction

Hepatitis C is a slowly progressive and often silent disease of the liver caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). HCV was identified in 1989 and an antibody test to detect its current or past presence became available in 1991.

Less than 10% of HCV infected persons experience an acute symptomatic illness. Around 25-30% of infected persons spontaneously clear their virus shortly after becoming infected. The remaining 70-75% of HCV infected persons, who fail to clear their virus, develop chronic infection and consequently are at risk of ultimately developing liver failure and / or liver cancer. HCV chronically infected persons generally remain asymptomatic for many years, although some individuals report a variety of symptoms such as fatigue, muscle ache, weight loss, abdominal pain and nausea. Of those chronically infected persons, 5-15% are estimated to develop cirrhosis of the liver within 20 years of infection; factors associated with more rapid disease progression include heavy alcohol consumption and co-infection with HIV.

There is no vaccine available at present to prevent infection with HCV. However, treatment with Direct Acting Antiviral (DAA) therapy leads to sustained viral clearance in excess of 90% of patients.