Clinical course of infection with hepatitis C

doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7538.374

BMJ 2006;332:374-375 (18 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7538.374

Editorial

Clinical course of infection with hepatitis C

Is still poorly understood

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Although around 170 million people worldwide are currently infectedwith hepatitis C virus (HCV), its course is still not well understood.Predicting the course of infection is essential to decidingwho and when to treat with the powerful available drugs—pegylatedinterferons and ribavirin—and anticipating the need forliver transplants and other interventions for end stage liverdisease.

Several factors influence the clinical course of HCV infection.Being older than 40 at the time of infection, male sex, coinfectionwith hepatitis B virus or HIV, steatohepatitis, immunosuppression,and predisposing human leukocyte antigen (HLA) haplotypes haveall been associated with progression of fibrosis and possibledevelopment of cirrhosis. The main risk factor for faster progressionto cirrhosis in HCV infection remains, however, the consumptionof alcohol.^{1 2} Moreover, many intravenous drug users, the mainpopulation still at risk of HCV infection in developed countries,consume alcohol regularly.

Despite this evidence about risk . . . [Full text of this article]

Sandro Vento, associate professor

Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pathology, University of Verona, 37138 Verona, Italy
(ventosandro@yahoo.it)

Valerio Nobili, consultant physician

Department of Liver Diseases, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, 00100 Rome, Italy

Francesca Cainelli, specialist in infectious diseases

Via Vasco de Gama 7, 37138 Verona, Italy