Chronic hepatitis C remains a significant medical and economic burden in Canada, affecting nearly 1% of the population. Since the last Canadian consensus conference on the management of chronic hepatitis C, major advances have occurred that warrant a review of recommended management approaches for these patients. Specifically, direct-acting antiviral agents with dramatically improved rates of v...

Background and Aims: Co-infection of hepatitis E virus (HEV) in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients can develop and increase liver disease and hepatic complications in the world. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of HEV infection in patients suffering from chronic HCV infection. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study testing anti-HEV antibodies in serum...

Background and Aims: Viral hepatitis is a global health problem with a high mortality rate. Recently, a new Flavi-like virus, provisionally named hepatitis G virus (HGV), has been described. HGV does not induce an immune response that is consistently detectable by using recombinant proteins from prokaryotic expression, therefore studies have been conducted by using polymerase chain reaction (...

conclusions the mutation ratio difference between genotypes b and c in children was higher than that of adults and several combined mutations were exclusively detected in children with chronic hbv genotype c infection associated with higher viral load. objectives the aim of this study was to assess the mutation profiles of bcp and precore regions in different hbv genotypes in chronically infect...

background clinical observations have shown that patients infected with chronic hepatitis b virus (hbv) genotype c versus genotype b had a higher load of the virus, more serious illness, and poorer responses to antiviral therapy and prognosis. however, the disparity between the two has not been clarified. objectives to explore possible relationship between hbv genotypes b and c and peripheral b...

For up to 20 to 40% of patients chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), the mode of transmission is still unknown. We demonstrate that tear fluid contains HCV RNA-carrying material with the properties of infectious virus and conclude that smear infection with tear fluid may play a role in HCV transmission.

AIC649 has been shown to directly address the antigen presenting cell arm of the host immune defense leading to a regulated cytokine release and activation of T cell responses. In the present study we analyzed the antiviral efficacy of AIC649 as well as its potential to induce functional cure in animal models for chronic hepatitis B. Hepatitis B virus transgenic mice and chronically woodchuck h...

The serology of chronic hepatitis B infection has been established through the use of commercial immunoassays to measure the structural antigens of the hepatitis B virus and their respective antibodies in serum. However, the commercial assays have not been designed to detect serum antibodies in the presence of an excess of circulating antigens. A series of serum samples from 200 HBeAg-positive,...