A HIDDEN ENEMY : HCV
Reviews of Progress, (November 2013)Abstract
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) was discovered for the first time in 1989. It causes
chronic liver disease. HCV is a plus-stranded RNA virus and belong to family
Flaviviridae. About 3.3% (20 crore) of global population are infected due to HCV.
Mostly it spread through contaminated syringes. In developed countries prevalence of
HCV is low, e.g. Germany (0·6%), Canada (0·8%), Australia and France (1·1%). Low
but little higher seroprevalence rate have been reported in USA (1·8%), Italy (2·2%) and
Japan (1·5–2·3%). In developing countries including Pakistan its prevalence is high 0.5-
31.9%. Interferon based therapy are used for the treatment of HCVinfection.