W. Ray Kim – 10 February 2006 – According to the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 3.9 million of the U.S. civilian population have been infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), of whom 2.7 million (74%) have chronic infection. Hepatitis C virus infection is most common among non‐Caucasian men, ages 30 to 49 years. Moreover, the prevalence of antibody to hepatitis C virus in groups not represented in the NHANES sample, such as the homeless or incarcerated, may be as high as 40%.

10 February 2006

10 February 2006

10 February 2006

10 February 2006

Maureen M. Jonas – 10 February 2006 – An estimated 240,000 children in the United States have antibody to hepatitis C virus (HCV) and 68,000 to 100,000 are chronically infected with HCV. Acute HCV infection is rarely recognized in children outside of special circumstances such as a known exposure from an HCV‐infected mother or after blood transfusion. Most chronically infected children are asymptomatic and have normal or only mildly abnormal alanine aminotransferase levels.

Kelly A. Gebo, Geetanjali Chander, Mollie W. Jenckes, Khalil G. Ghanem, H. Franklin Herlong, Michael S. Torbenson, Samer S. El‐Kamary, Eric B. Bass – 10 February 2006 – This systematic review addresses the following questions: (1) What is the efficacy of using screening tests for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in improving outcomes in chronic hepatitis C, and (2) what are the sensitivity and specificity of screening tests for HCC in chronic hepatitis C? The search strategy involved searching Medline and other electronic databases between January 1985 and March 2002.

10 February 2006

Jules L. Dienstag – 10 February 2006 – The report of the 1997 National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference on hepatitis C endorsed pretreatment liver biopsy. We revisit the following questions: Does liver histology help determine the urgency of, and predict the likelihood of response to, antiviral therapy, and can surrogate markers supplant histological assessment?

Miriam J. Alter – 10 February 2006 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is transmitted by percutaneous or permucosal exposure to infectious blood or blood‐derived body fluids.