Hepatitis C - Are You smarter than a 5th grader?

[dontworry_behappy1]

Ask a question on this thread and let's see how smart/fast we really are.

Who discovered Hepatitis C?

[dontworry_behappy1]

I think it's because of what is produced in the liver that makes it so perfect to replicate HCV.  I did read that HCV replication has requirements that appear
only in the liver.

www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/5/5/1292
download the full text for free.  

[marie55567]

I wonder why it just attack the liver?

[Tekelcat]

We could for example be pushing for more money to directed at research into mutagenesis: HCV's notorious mutation rate and its weak proof-reading during replication are both its strength and maybe its weakness since it always operates very close to self-destruction. There is some reason to see if pushing HCV to mutate even faster and more than it does will push it over the edge and destroy it.

[Tekelcat]

It's not just semantics. Hepatitis C virus and chronic (or acute) hepatitis C virus infection are very different things, no matter what the common usage of the terms in our language. I believe it is vital that the HCV+ community understands and speaks accurately about HCV, HCV infection and treatment for that infection. Were we not so much in the dark or so blurred in our understanding about it all, we might be more effective with the medical/scientific community about treatments, etc, than we are. One of the reasons HAART is so successful for people with HIV is that the HIV community really learned their science and their medicine then demanded that the research and treatment institutions listen to them. If it had been about HIV Gilead would never have gotten away with refusing to do more work on the Sofosbuvir and daclatasvir combo which was looking so effective for HCV-1a and 1b. Think ACTUP. But because we have yet to claim a share of the knowledge and policy, few listened.

[desrt]

If it's the semantics of the thing (yes I understand that HCV is used to refer to both the virus and the disease it causes) then I will say, "I think it is obscene to hold the patent on a virus." Or a bacterium or anything else that occurs naturally.
The point was that others had spent years researching and isolating the virus and Chiron stepped in at the last minute and by simply cloning something derived from others work were able to claim 'ownership' of the virus and prevent others from working on a cure.
Some may think Chiron clever for having the right equipment and the right lawyers to step in at the last moment and exploit this situation. I don't.

[Tekelcat]

Aaargh. So aggravating. HCV = hepatitis c virus = virions in the type species (6 genotypes) of hepacivirus genus belonging to the flaviviridae family. Chronic HCV infection = CHC, which causes a range of liver and extra-hepatic diseases and is now classified as a disease = "hepatitis C" and "hep C"

Chiron Corporation did not patent CHC (hepatitis C/hep C); it patented the part of the hepatitis C virion genome that it was able to visualize by a cloning process, and that visualized part was what made it possible to run ELISA tests for anti-HCV and later PCR for genotype and viral load.

Sorry about the "duh" --- most unnecessary