Российское сообщество больных Гепатитом С
 

1.0.7a WHEN WAS THE HEPATITIS C VIRUS DISCOVERED?

In 1987, Michael Houghton and colleagues at Chiron Corporation in California discovered part of the genetic material of HCV using molecular recombinant technology. This discovery allowed the development of tests to detect specific antibodies. The first enzyme immunoassay (EIA) test made available in 1989 employed only a single recombinant protein to detect antibodies and produced a significant proportion of both false positive and false negative results. An antibody test that could be used to increase the safety of the blood supply and of transplantable organs and tissues was available by 1990.

In mid-1995 the hepatitis C virus was seen for the first time ever by scientists with the aid of an electron microscope. It is a linear single-strand RNA (ribonucleic acid) virus 40-50 nanometers in size.

It is covered with a lipid envelope and is encased with glycoprotein peplomers or “spikes”.

According to Bruce Devenne of Hepatitis Nova Scotia, governments and medical communities had knowledge of hepatitis C well before 1987, and could have done much to prevent the deaths of thousands. But they didn’t. Consider the poisoning of those in Ireland and France with HCV infected blood, and where court cases clearly found criminal liability on the part of blood merchants and governments. Consider also the history of blood safety in Canada, and the current Arkansas Blood Trail scandal (See Appendix E, below).



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