Extrahepatic Nasal Manifestations of Hepatitis C Virus

Abstract

©2015. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The nose is a competent immunological organ that reflects many of the cellular and molecular events seen in mucosal immunity. Viruses are major causative agents for respiratory tract infections in children and adults. Viruses induced rhinitis is usually of acute nature resulting in the common cold symptoms; rhinorrhea, nasal obstruction, malaise and exacerbation of already existing airways disease. Among the viruses frequently infecting the human nose are the RNA virus such as coronavirus, rhinovirus, and the influ enza/parainfluenza virus and the double-stranded DNA adenovirus. These viruses induce rhinitis (common cold and flu) by attaching themselves to the lining of the nose and paranasal sinuses. Other chronic blood borne viruses may produce rhinopathy. Examples of such viruses are the human acquired immune deficien cy virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). While the rhinosinusitis seen in HIV population is due to superinfection with other pathogens due to the general weak immunological system caused by HIV, the rhinosinusitis seen in HCV could be due to specific nasal immunological response. HCV which belongs to lenti viruses is known to be associated with head and neck diseases. Thyroid disease is commonly seen in people with HCV. Correlation between HCV and lymphocytic sialoadenitis, similar to sialoadenitis associated with idiopathic Sjogren syndrome has been also described [1], but nasal extrahepatic manifestations of HCV is poorly defined except for HCV