Hepatitis C and hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatitis C is a flavivirus (of which yellow fever is the prototype) that causes non-A, non-B hepatitis. Flaviviruses are icosahedral, positive strand RNA viruses. Worldwide, there are approximately 200 million HCV carriers. Although HCV, like HBV, can cause chronic persistent hepatitis, deaths from acute liver failure are rare. After many (up to thirty) years, a small proportion (5%) of HCV chronically-infected patients develop hepatocellular carcinoma. There is disagreement regarding HCV causes transformation.