BMJ 1994;308:670-671 (12 March)

Editorials

Asymptomatic infection with hepatitis C virus

The history of infectious hepatitis illustrates the ever-challenging battle between humans, micro-organisms, and disease. In the 1970s the organisms causing viral hepatitis type A and B were identified, allowing more accurate diagnosis and treatment, and the battle seemed to be on the way to being won. But nature persisted, and the term non-A non-B hepatitis was coined for the viral liver disease not due to hepatitis A or B virus, cytomegalovirus, or Epstein-Barr virus. Without specific assays the diagnosis of non-A non-B hepatitis was based on exclusion. The disorder accounted for 75-90% of cases of post-transfusion hepatitis, but it also included enterically transmitted, sporadic, endemic, and community acquired disease.1 In developed countries this type of hepatitis is second only to alcohol as a cause of chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma, but its treatment remains problematic.2

Most non-A non-B hepatitis is due to a single virus, hepatitis C virus, . . . [Full text of this article]


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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Gore, S.M., Bird, A.G., Cameron, S.O., Hutchinson, S.J., Burns, S.M., Goldberg, D.J. (1999). Prevalence of hepatitis C in prisons: WASH-C surveillance linked to self-reported risk behaviours. QJM 92: 25-32 [Abstract] [Full text]  
  • Seymour, C. A (1996). Controversies in Management: Screening asymptomatic people at high risk for hepatitis C. BMJ 312: 1347-1348 [Full text]  
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