Acute hepatitis C virus infection

W L Irving; D Salmon; C Boucher; I M Hoepelman

doi:10.2807/ese.13.21.18879-en

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Acute hepatitis C virus infection
W L Irving^1,2 , D Salmon^1,3 , C Boucher^1,4 , I M Hoepelman^1,5
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Affiliations: ¹ Executive Committee, Viral Hepatitis Study Group, European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Basel, Switzerland ² Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom ³ Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, University Paris Descartes, France ⁴ Department of Virology, University Medical Center, Utrecht, and Department of Virology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands ⁵ Department of Internal Medicine & Infectious Diseases, University Medical Center, Utrecht, the Netherlands

Correspondence:
W Irving
Will.Irving nottingham.ac.uk
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Citation style for this article: Irving W L, Salmon D, Boucher C, Hoepelman I M. Acute hepatitis C virus infection. Euro Surveill. 2008;13(21):pii=18879. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.13.21.18879-en Received: 13 May 2008

Abstract

Around 25% of people infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) are able to clear the infection spontaneously, while the majority become chronically infected, with a subsequent risk for the individual patient of progressive inflammatory liver disease, cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and liver-related death (Figure 1). Much is known about the epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and management of chronic HCV infection. In comparison, knowledge about acute HCV infection is patchy. In this article, we will highlight concerns relating to acute HCV infection and suggest that public health bodies responsible for managing the HCV epidemic should redirect at least some of their resources to dealing with these issues.