New trends in hepatitis C management.

Approximately 2% of the world population is infected by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). The incidence of new HCV infections is decreasing today, with new contaminations limited to specific risk groups: intravenous drug users and homosexual men. On the other hand, morbidity and mortality due to infections that occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s are rising quite substantially. Approximately 20% of patients infected by HCV develop cirrhosis in about 20 years and every year 5% of them develop hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Current epidemiologic models suggest that the incidence of HCC and of the mortality associated with chronic HCV infection will continue to increase through 2015, a finding consisting with the perception of liver specialists today.