Explore the recorded discovery and history of Hepatitis C virus, with source links and stated limits.
Hepatitis C virus is spread through contact with infected blood, most often through unsafe injections and medical procedures, unscreened transfusions and shared injecting equipment. WHO states that around 30% of infected people clear the virus within six months without treatment, while the rest develop chronic infection. Antiviral medicines can cure more than 95% of people, and there is no vaccine.
The Nobel Assembly records that Harvey Alter and colleagues showed a large number of transfusion-associated hepatitis cases were caused by neither hepatitis A nor hepatitis B, and that the agent behaved like a virus. Their 1975 report described transfusion-associated hepatitis not due to type A or B, and the illness became known as 'non-A, non-B' hepatitis.
Among the key publications for this discovery, the Nobel Assembly lists Choo and colleagues' 1989 Science report isolating a cDNA clone from a blood-borne non-A, non-B hepatitis genome, and a companion assay for antibodies to the virus.
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice for the discovery of hepatitis C virus. The Assembly notes that resulting blood tests essentially eliminated post-transfusion hepatitis in many parts of the world.
Hepatitis C was recognised first as an unexplained form of transfusion-associated hepatitis and only later identified as a virus. These records do not identify a first infected person or a country of origin.
Source check: 2026-09-19. Educational content; independent scientific review remains pending.