Current Status of Therapeutics and Diagnosis of HCV
A Review
Abstract
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Hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes a very common blood borne infection. According to a recent estimate, 3% of world population is infected with HCV. Acute infection develops into chronic infection that causes severe liver diseases. Major improvements in diagnosis and antiviral therapy play a crucial role in the management of chronic hepatitis infection. Better understanding of HCV life cycle introduced the development of direct acting antiviral drugs (DAA drugs). Currently, sovaldi or NS5B inhibitor is a major drug used for chronic HCV infection. New therapies are based on the combination of antiviral drugs and/or interferon free regimens. Many new DAA drugs, that are inhibitors of HCV genes, are under investigation. Serological and molecular techniques play a major role in the diagnosis and assessment of the treatment. Anti HCV detection by ELISA is an initial screening test, while nucleic acid tests (NATs) are confirmatory. Quantitative NATs have replaced the qualitative NATs. Developments in the field of diagnosis and treatment have replaced interferon based regimens with interferon free regimens.
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Copyright (c) 2019 Saba Altaf, Aisha Tarar, Nabiha Naeem
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