The gordon wilson lecture: the hepatitis c virus: from hippocrates to cure.

THE GORDON WILSON LECTURE: THE HEPATITIS C VIRUS: FROM HIPPOCRATES TO CURE. Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc. 2019;130:104-118 Authors: Alter HJ Abstract The modern age of viral hepatitis began in the early 1960s with the serendipitous discovery of the Australia antigen, a protein that was later shown to represent the envelope of the hepatitis B virus leading to its designation as the hepatitis B surface antigen. This was the first marker for any hepatitis virus and became not only a diagnostic assay, but also a mandatory blood donor screening test and the basis for the first generation hepatitis B vaccine. Prospective studies of transfusion recipients then showed that hepatitis B virus accounted for only 25% of cases of post-transfusion hepatitis (PTH). Discovery of the hepatitis A virus in 1975 revealed that none of the non-B PTH cases were due to hepatitis A virus infection resulting in the designation of this predominant form of PTH as non-A, non-B hepatitis. Using pedigreed patient samples and the chimp model, it was shown even before the advent of molecular biology that the non-A, non-B agent was small and lipid enveloped suggesting it might be a flavivirus. This was confirmed when the agent was cloned by Houghton and colleagues at the Chiron Corporation in 1987 and renamed the hepatitis C virus (HCV). In 1990 a donor screening assay for HCV was introduced nationwide and by 1997 PTH had virtually disappeared with rates now mathemat...
Source: Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association - Category: General Medicine Tags: Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc Source Type: research