Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an international health problem. Hepatitis C virus is the main cause of chronic liver disease and accounts for around 150.000 new annual cases of hepatitis C in the United States alone. Apart from being responsible for causing hepatitis C, HCV can also cause hepatic fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. People with acute forms of hepatitis C can in time develop chronic forms of the disease. Furthermore, people who suffer from chronic hepatitis C can develop serious complications over the years, such as cirrhosis and even end-stage liver disease. Statistics indicate that around 170.000.000 people worldwide develop chronic forms of liver disease due to infection with hepatitis C virus. Research results also reveal that there are around 3-4 million new annual cases of infection with hepatitis C virus worldwide.

Once they are infected with hepatitis C virus, people may have differentiated symptoms, experienced at different intensities. Some patients diagnosed with liver disease due to infection with hepatitis C virus may actually have no symptoms at all as their disease progresses. While most patients with mild forms of hepatitis C don't have any clinical symptoms in the early stages of the disease, patients with chronic hepatitis C may not have any symptoms for years, until they develop complications. The only common clinical symptoms that occur in people infected with hepatitis C virus are pronounced fatigue, body weakness, nausea and sometimes vomiting. These flu-like symptoms are usually intermittent and they are replaced by specific symptoms long after the infection becomes serious, in the late stages of the disease.

Hepatitis C virus can be transmitted through direct contact with infected blood or through inadequate use of needles, syringes and other medical utensils. Prior to 1992, the main cause of infection with hepatitis C virus was blood transfusion, as there were no effective means of screening the donated blood from viruses at that time. After 1992, new methods of verifying the quality of the donated blood became available, and the risk of contracting hepatitis C virus from blood transfusions has considerably reduced. However, despite all these measures of preventing infections, hepatitis C virus still accounts for millions of new annual cases of liver disease worldwide. It is believed that inappropriately sterilized medical instruments are nowadays the main cause of infection with hepatitis C virus.

Although for most people who suffer from liver disease due to infection with hepatitis C virus the generated symptoms are mild, HCV can latently lead to serious complications such as cirrhosis and even liver cancer. Hepatitis C virus is a life-threatening infectious agent, as it accounts for more than 10.000 deaths in the United States each year. This is due to the fact that most patients are diagnosed with infectious liver disease late, long after the infection with hepatitis C virus becomes serious. The medical treatments available today for people who suffer from liver disease induced by hepatitis C virus are not entirely effective, and most patients with chronic liver disease experience a relapse after they stop receiving medical treatment.