Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection often causes insidious and progressive liver injury in infected individuals. Acute infection is typically mild and subclinical, yet there is a high rate of chronicity after infection. As many as 55–85% of individuals who contract HCV infection will develop chronic infection and hepatitis. Of these, at least 20% will progress to cirrhosis after a 10–30 yr period, and are at risk to develop hepatocelluplar carcinoma (1). The estimated worldwide prevalence of chronic HCV infection is over 170 million (2–4), and 2.7–3.9 million are infected in the United States (5,6). Cirrhosis caused by HCV infection is currently the leading indication for liver transplantation in the United States (7).

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