The burden of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on the public health care system continues to remain significant despite the remarkable progress made in HCV therapeutics in the recent past. There are now almost a dozen oral interferon-free direct-acting antivirals available for the treatment of hepatitis C virus infection. Despite advances in the treatment of HCV, therapeutic gaps remain that are yet to be fully explored. Researchers and scientists still strive to understand virus-host interactions to map the disease’s progression along with extrahepatic manifestations and virus invasion strategies impacting the host’s immune system. This book briefly discusses the biology of HCV infection, virus-host interactions, molecular epidemiology of the infection, and the full spectrum of immune responses to hepatitis C. It also provides in-depth information about HCV, clinical diagnostics, and therapeutic knowledge to all stakeholders involved in HCV screening, diagnosis, treatment, and management. Topics covered in the chapters include 1) HCV-host interactions leading to asymptomatic acute infection, 2) the progression of acute HCV infection to chronic disease and subsequent extrahepatic comorbidities, 3) Innate and adaptive immune responses in HCV infections, 4) Consensus-based Approaches for Hepatitis C Screening and Diagnosis, 5) advances in hepatitis C therapy and global management of HCV, and 6) the outcomes of Oral Interferon-free Direct-acting Antivirals as Combination Therapies to Cure Hepatitis C. This book is a valuable addition to undergraduate and postgraduate hepatology students and physicians, clinicians, hepatologists, and health care officials involved in HCV clinical diagnosis and therapeutics.

Hepatitis B and C cause most cases of hepatitis in the United States and the world. The two diseases account for about a million deaths a year and 78 percent of world's hepatocellular carcinoma and more than half of all fatal cirrhosis. In 2013 viral hepatitis, of which hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are the most common types, surpassed HIV and AIDS to become the seventh leading cause of death worldwide. The world now has the tools to prevent hepatitis B and cure hepatitis C. Perfect vaccination could eradicate HBV, but it would take two generations at least. In the meantime, there is no cure for the millions of people already infected. Conversely, there is no vaccine for HCV, but new direct-acting antivirals can cure 95 percent of chronic infections, though these drugs are unlikely to reach all chronically-infected people anytime soon. This report, the first of two, examines the feasibility of hepatitis B and C elimination in the United States and identifies critical success factors. The phase two report will outline a strategy for meeting the elimination goals discussed in this report.

RNA viruses cause animal, human, and zoonotic diseases that affect millions of individuals, as is being exemplified by the devastating ongoing epidemic of the recently identified SARS-Cov-2. For years vaccines have had an enormous impact on overcoming the global burden of diseases. Nowadays, a vast number of different approaches, from purified inactivated and live attenuated viruses, nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) based candidates, virus-like particles, subunit elements, and recombinant viruses are been employed to combat viruses. However, for many of them efficient vaccines are not yet available. This will probably change dramatically with the current Covid-19 pandemic, as a vast variety of vaccinology approaches are being tested against it, with hundreds of candidates under development, dozens of them already in clinical trials, a fact that is breaking records in vaccine development and implementation. This is becoming possible thanks to the enormous work carried out during years to have the bases for a quick response, even against unknown pathogens, in an impressive short time. Here, results obtained with different vaccine´s methodological approaches against human (HIV, HCV, HRV) animal (PRRSV, PEDV, FMDV, VHSV) and zoonotic (RVF, WNV), RNA viruses are presented by field experts.

The first observation of cold-induced precipitation of serum proteins dates back to 1933, when Wintrobe and Buell first described an unusual case of multiple myeloma in a woman whose serum reversibly precipitated at cold temperatures. In 1947 Lerner and Watson showed cold-precipitable proteins to be gammaglobulins and called them ‘cryoglobulins’ and the corresponding clinical condition ‘cryoglobulinemia’. Meltzer and Franklin in 1966 provided an accurate description of the typical clinical symptoms associated with cryoglobulinemia, showed that they consisted of two different globulin components and, because of the ignorance on its etiology, called this clinical condition ‘essential mixed cryoglobulinemia’. For almost 20 years progress has been rather slow in this field, but when at the end of the ‘80s it finally became possible to detect the occurrence in the serum of antibodies to the hepatitis C virus (HCV), many groups in Europe and the United States almost simultaneously reported that a high proportion of ‘essential’ cryoglobulinemias are in fact associated with HCV infection. This hallmark has resulted in a new impetus and great enthusiasm in carrying out new researches made possible by the awareness that cryoglobulinemia is to be considered an undisputable extrahepatic manifestation of HCV infection. In addition, the evidence that HCV has tropism for hepatocytes and lymphocytes has stimulated new approaches to the autoimmune phenomena and the potential transformation in non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas which not infrequently can be discovered in these patients. The same applies to the obvious therapeutic implications, once the association between HCV infection and mixed cryoglobulinemia has been firmly established. It was thus felt that times were ripe to produce a state-of-the-art survey of the multi-faceted picture of cryoglobulinemia. This book is indeed unique in the detail of its presentation, its completeness and its fundamental approach to the subject. The most qualified authors have been invited to contribute critical articles reviewing significant developments related to each of the eight sections in which the whole treatment has been divided: from basic mechanisms governing interactions between HCV and the immune system to the immunochemical characterization of cryoglobulins and the frequently concomitant serological abnormalities; from genetic features and the role of certain cytokines and chemokines to the cellular compartments of HCV infection and replication; from the clinical manifestations of cryoglobulinemic patients and their potential susceptibility to develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma to conventional treatment of the syndrome and the newer, promising therapeutic advances. The reader will appreciate the immediacy of style, the striking illustrations, and the color plates. In addition, the comprehensive review of a systemic disease such as cryoglobulinemia will interest basic scientists and specialists involved in several disciplines, including internal medicine, hepatology, hematology, oncology, infectious diseases, rheumatology, nephrology and dermatology. General practitioners, graduate and post-graduate students will also find in this book an irreplaceable source of update in this fascinating field.

Hepatitis B and C cause most cases of hepatitis in the United States and the world. The two diseases account for about a million deaths a year and 78 percent of world's hepatocellular carcinoma and more than half of all fatal cirrhosis. In 2013 viral hepatitis, of which hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are the most common types, surpassed HIV and AIDS to become the seventh leading cause of death worldwide. The world now has the tools to prevent hepatitis B and cure hepatitis C. Perfect vaccination could eradicate HBV, but it would take two generations at least. In the meantime, there is no cure for the millions of people already infected. Conversely, there is no vaccine for HCV, but new direct-acting antivirals can cure 95 percent of chronic infections, though these drugs are unlikely to reach all chronically-infected people anytime soon. This report, the second of two, builds off the conclusions of the first report and outlines a strategy for hepatitis reduction over time and specific actions to achieve them.

Polymicrobial diseases, those involving more than one etiologic agent, are more common than is generally realized and include respiratory diseases, gastroenteritis, conjunctivitis, keratitis, hepatitis, periodontal diseases, multiple sclerosis, genital infections, intra -- abdominal infections, and pertussis.

This book highlights information derived primarily from clinical samples, with particular reference to theoretical and scientific aspects of the human immune system. This text will focus on topics that range from host-pathogen interactions in infectious disease to host immune response in cancer, allergic diseases, neuroinflammatory diseases, and autoimmune disorders. The reader will also have a well-rounded understanding of the behavior of the immune system with particular emphasis on the role of immunoproteomics in immunotherapy, neuroprotective immunity for neurodegenerative and neuroinfectious disease, leukemia-associated dendritic cell induction of adaptive immunity dysregulation, and the role of immune checkpoint inhibitors in cancer, infection, as well as neuroinflammation. Taken together, the contents of this book are intended for both clinicians and researchers in academia and industry.