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©2008 The WJG Press and Baishideng. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 14, 2008; 14(18): 2946-2947
Published online May 14, 2008. doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.2946
Published online May 14, 2008. doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.2946
Desperately seeking hepatitis C virus
Ricardo Moreno-Otero, Hepato-Gastroenterology Service and Ciberehd, Hospital Universitario de La Princesa, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid 28006, Spain
Author contributions: Moreno-Otero R wrote the paper.
Correspondence to: Ricardo Moreno-Otero, MD, Chief, Hepato-Gastroenterology Service and Ciberehd, Hospital Universitario de La Princesa, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid 28006, Spain. rmoreno.hlpr@salud.madrid.org
Telephone: +34-91-3093911
Fax: +34-91-4022299
Received: January 30, 2008
Revised: March 8, 2008
Published online: May 14, 2008
Revised: March 8, 2008
Published online: May 14, 2008
Abstract
Spanish investigators described recently the so-called occult hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, emphasizing the detection of genomic and antigenomic HCV RNA strands in liver and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Therefore, the persistence of viral replication in occult HCV infection should be considered as a putative source of infection among family members and patients undergoing invasive procedures, transfusion or transplantation. Additionally, the most worrisome finding is that an occult HCV infection may persist in patients with sustained virological response.
Keywords: Occult hepatitis C, Occult hepatitis C virus infection, Hepatitis C virus RNA, Peginterferon, Ribavirin