Copyright
©2006 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 21, 2006; 12(43): 6922-6925
Published online Nov 21, 2006. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v12.i43.6922
Published online Nov 21, 2006. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v12.i43.6922
Occult hepatitis C virus infection: A new form of hepatitis C
Vicente Carreño, Fundación para el Estudio de las Hepatitis Virales, Madrid, Spain
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Vicente Carreño, MD, Fundación para el Estudio de las Hepatitis Virales, Guzmán el Bueno, 72, Madrid 28015, Spain. fehvhpa@fehv.org
Telephone: +34-91-5446013 Fax: +34-91-5449228
Received: July 17, 2006
Revised: August 25, 2006
Accepted: September 1, 2006
Published online: November 21, 2006
Revised: August 25, 2006
Accepted: September 1, 2006
Published online: November 21, 2006
Abstract
Occult hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a new recently characterized entity. This occult infection can be present in two different clinical situations: in anti-HCV negative, serum HCV-RNA negative patients with abnormal liver function tests and in anti-HCV positive subjects with normal values of liver enzymes and without serum HCV-RNA. This review describes recent studies of occult HCV infection in both kinds of patients.