ABSTRACT
Approximately 170 million people worldwide are infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which gives a global prevalence of about 3% [1-5]. In 1989, HCV was identied as the infectious agent for non-A non-B hepatitis, being the rst pathogen that was purely identied by molecular techniques [1,6]. Chronic HCV infections are identied as the major cause for chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and liver transplantation [1,7]. The majority of HCV infections remain asymptomatic for many years, which leads to the spread of this virus and late treatment [1]. The predominant mode of transmission in many Western countries is injecting drug abuse [7].
