Does HCV Ever Really Go Away?

Highly sensitive assays indicated that patients with clinical resolution of HCV continued to harbor the virus and exhibit persistent active viral replication.

Long-term follow-up of patients who have cleared hepatitis C virus (HCV), either spontaneously or after successful therapy with interferon and ribavirin, suggests that the likelihood of recurrence is low. This conclusion is based on analysis of HCV RNA assays. However, HCV RNA assays have a variable range of detection, especially at low viral levels, and no assay results can completely eliminate the possibility of the virus's presence. Some evidence suggests that HCV is not only present in blood and liver, but also may be present in cells of the lymphatic and central nervous systems. If these locations harbor virus that is undetectable by standard assays, that could have important implications for disease recurrence. HCV antibodies can pers…

Reviewing Author

Kenneth D. Flora, MD