Unveiling Extrahepatic Consequences of Chronic Hepatitis C – The REVEAL-HCV Study

There is growing evidence indicating that chronic viral infections may produce harm by direct organ-specific damage as well as by indirect systemic inflammatory phenomena derived from continuous viral replication. This has been well established for HIV infection, whose uncontrolled replication leads to increased risk of cardiovascular events and accelerated ageing. For hepatitis C there is no similar evidence so far, although extrahepatic manifestations of chronic HCV infection are well known, including cutaneous, rheumatic and neurologic complications.