Hepatitis C - The CDC Raises Awareness to Baby Boomers / Single Project

The CDC now recommends one-time test for hepatitis C for all baby boomers to check for infection. Hepatitis C is an infectious disease affecting primarily the liver, caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). The infection is often asymptomatic, but chronic infection can lead to scarring of the liver and ultimately to cirrhosis, which is generally apparent after many years. In some cases, those with cirrhosis will go on to develop liver failure, liver cancer or life-threatening esophageal and gastric varices.

The hepatitis-C virus is illustrated here, with its single-stranded RNA genome (helix: red for 5' and 3' NTR, white for structural proteins and red for non-structural proteins) protected by a protein-based and icosahedral capsid (blue), which in turn is wrapped within a lipid bilayer envelope (green) that contains key proteins E1 (yellow) and E2 (orange). The Hepatitis C virus E1 and E2 envelope proteins are the major players in all events required for virus entry into target cell.