Researchers Able To Cultivate Hepatitis C In Hopes Developing Cure
Published: June 12, 2005
Researcher D.r Charles Rice from the Infectious Diseases Unit at Rockefeller University told the journal Science how in a separate set of experiments they were able to use the lab-grown virus to cultivate hepatitis C.
The discovery will open doors for an improved method of prevention and treatment.
Hepatitis C is a major cause of chronic and sometimes fatal liver disease, affecting 170 million people worldwide.
However, much about the life cycle of the virus remains poorly understood because, until now, scientists have been unable to reproduce an infectious form of HCV that they can observe and experiment on in the lab.
Chief executive of the Hepatitis C Trust and president of the European Liver Patients Association, Charles Gore, said in a BBC report, “Treatment for hepatitis C has improved dramatically in recent years but there is still considerable room for improvement.
This is one of the reasons why so few - just one-half to one percent - of those with this unacknowledged virus are getting treated each year.
Any advances that can contribute to improved therapy, and especially the development of a vaccine, are good news for patients.”
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