ABSTRACT
Chronic infection by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the leading causes of chronic liver disease with an estimate worldwide prevalence of over 200 million people. Acute hepatitis C infection is usually asymptomatic and rarely identified in clinical practice, leading to chronic infection in about 80% of all cases. However, when symptomatic, only about 50% of acute infections progress to chronicity. Correctly identifying acute HCV infection is of paramount importance once it presents itself as an unique treatment opportunity with sustained virological response of about 90%, which is very distant from the 30% to 80% of sustained virological response achieved with standard chronic HCV treatment. The authors present four cases of acute HCV infection. There was spontaneous viral clearance in two pa- tients at week 12 of follow-up. In one case viral RNA was positive at week 12 but sustained virological response was eventually achieved after peginterferon alpha2a monotherapy.
Subject(s)
Hepatitis C/diagnosis , Acute Disease , Adult , Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use , Female , Hepacivirus/genetics , Hepacivirus/immunology , Hepatitis C/drug therapy , Hepatitis C Antibodies/blood , Humans , Interferon-alpha/therapeutic use , Male , RNA, ViralABSTRACT
Chronic infection by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the leading causes of chronic liver disease with an estimate worldwide prevalence of over 200 million people. Acute hepatitis C infection is usually asymptomatic and rarely identified in clinical practice, leading to chronic infection in about 80
of all cases. However, when symptomatic, only about 50
of acute infections progress to chronicity. Correctly identifying acute HCV infection is of paramount importance once it presents itself as an unique treatment opportunity with sustained virological response of about 90
, which is very distant from the 30
to 80
of sustained virological response achieved with standard chronic HCV treatment. The authors present four cases of acute HCV infection. There was spontaneous viral clearance in two pa- tients at week 12 of follow-up. In one case viral RNA was positive at week 12 but sustained virological response was eventually achieved after peginterferon alpha2a monotherapy.
Subject(s)
Hepatitis C/diagnosis , Acute Disease , Adult , Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use , Female , Hepacivirus/genetics , Hepacivirus/immunology , Hepatitis C/drug therapy , Hepatitis C Antibodies/blood , Humans , Interferon-alpha/therapeutic use , Male , RNA, ViralABSTRACT
Chronic infection by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the leading causes of chronic liver disease with an estimate worldwide prevalence of over 200 million people. Acute hepatitis C infection is usually asymptomatic and rarely identified in clinical practice, leading to chronic infection in about 80
of acute infections progress to chronicity. Correctly identifying acute HCV infection is of paramount importance once it presents itself as an unique treatment opportunity with sustained virological response of about 90
, which is very distant from the 30
of sustained virological response achieved with standard chronic HCV treatment. The authors present four cases of acute HCV infection. There was spontaneous viral clearance in two pa- tients at week 12 of follow-up. In one case viral RNA was positive at week 12 but sustained virological response was eventually achieved after peginterferon alpha2a monotherapy.