Hepatitis C Virus Report for Microbiology and Immunology Course

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), a single-stranded RNA virus of the Flaviviridae family, and the cause of hepatitis C and related cancers. The report details the virus's classification, structure including its lipid envelope and glycoproteins, and genome, which encodes for both structural and nonstructural proteins. It outlines the stages of HCV infection, from incubation to chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer, along with the associated symptoms such as jaundice, fatigue, and abdominal pain. The report also discusses the various modes of transmission, including sharing needles, sexual contact, and mother-to-child transmission, as well as the pathogenesis of the disease, including the immune response, liver damage, and factors promoting disease progression such as co-infections and alcohol intake. Finally, it touches upon the mechanisms of hepatocyte destruction and the link between chronic active hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The report is a detailed analysis for a pharmaceutical microbiology and immunology course at the University of Rajshahi.