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Once patients clear hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections, whether spontaneously or during interferon therapy, they are at risk for reinfection if they are re-exposed to the virus. But, does spontaneous clearance reduce risk for reinfection? To find out, researchers compared rates of new HCV infection between patients with previous spontaneous HCV clearance and never-infected participants in a community-based cohort.
All participants were initially enrolled in the Community Health and Safety Evaluation (CHASE) project, a prospective, open study that was designed to evaluate health-service use by inner-city Vancouver residents. A total of 2117 CHASE enrollees underwent HCV antibody testing. Of the 658 enrollees who were HCV-positive at baseline,…