INTRODUCTION:
The elucidation of the hepatitis C genome in 1989 has led to the realization that this virus is a major health problem worldwide. 1st infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease n the United States and HCV related disease is a leading indication for transplantation. An estimated 3.9 million Americans carry the antibody to HCV, while 2.7 million have detectable virus in the blood (i.e, active infection). This means that about more then 1% of the United States population has hepatitis C.
In the NHANES (National Health and Nuttrition Examination Survey) study, it was determined that 1.5% of whites, 3.2% of black, and 2.1% of Hispanics are infected with HCV. The prevalence of hepatitis C in the Asian American Population is unknown at the time of this study, the greatest prevalence was seen in patent age 20 to 29 years. Because of this study was perform about ten years ago, however, the age of this patents has now shifted 30 to 49 years range.
The hepatitis C virus has very little, in common with the better- known hepatitis viruses Hepatitis A & B. it is a member of the Flaviviradiae family, which includes such viruses as those that cause yellow fever and Dengue. The viral partial consist of an envelop derived from host membrane, into which are inserted the virally encoded glycoprotenis E1, E2, surrounding a nucleocapsid and a positive- sense, single-standard RNA genome of approximately nine thousand nucleotides.
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