Immune system does not recover despite cured hepatitis C infection
[PRESS RELEASE 2018-06-11] Changes to the immune system remain many years after a hepatitis C infection heals, a new study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Hannover Medical School shows. The findings, presented in Nature Communications, increases understanding about chronic infection and the way it regulates and impacts composition of the immune system.Infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) turns almost always chronic and poses a major health problem around the world. The infection can lead to cirrhosis and cancer of the liver when the immune system fails to fight the virus.