Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is a blood-borne pathogen and a worldwide public health burden with up to 170 million people infected globally and 350,000 annual deaths due to HCV related conditions, including cirrhosis and liver cancer. Transmission of HCV is through exposure to blood, blood products, or activities with potential for percutaneous exposure.
Clinically, there is a high prevalence of asymptomatic HCV infection, and, despite detectable antibody, chronic HCV infection occurs in up to 75% of patients. HCV laboratory testing algorithms require diagnosis of active HCV infections in antibody positive individuals through detection of HCV RNA in plasma or serum to allow appropriate link to care.
Genetically, HCV contains a positive-strand RNA genome of approximately 9500 nucleotides encoding structural proteins and non-structural proteins, the latter being key viral replicative proteins and targets of direct acting antivirals.
Sustained virological response, defined as undetected HCV RNA after successful therapy, is a key marker for an HCV cure.
