HEPATITIS C can be cured and even eradicated by new “revolutionary” treatments. However, at present exorbitant prices, Eastern European countries cannot afford the new treatments, while in western rich and developed countries (e.g. Germany and France) they are already available. Concerted efforts of governments, public health officials, and the community at large, are needed to negotiate agreements with pharmaceuticals companies to make the new treatments accessible and affordable. When science has demonstrated that HEPATITIS C can be cured, it would be unforgivable if millions of infected patients from eastern parts of the continent were denied access to new treatment on grounds of high prices and financial constraints.

Context: On the strength of epidemiological data, biological studies, and clinical findings, HEPATITIS C VIRUS appears to be involved in the pathogenesis of a proportion of patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and cryoglobulinemia.Objectives: The aim of this paper is to review the published literature focused on the current knowledge concerning HEPATITIS C VIRUS and its potential role in the production of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and cryoglobulinemia in susceptible individuals.Evidence Acquisition: In this review, databases such as pubMed, embase, ISI, and Iranian databases including Iranmedex, and SID were searched.Results: The results of this review indicate that HCV infection may be a likely cause of various B cell dysregulation disorders such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma and cryoglobulinemia.Conclusion: Based on current findings, it has been hypothesized that NHL and cryoglobulinemia in HCV infection may have an immune-mediated pathogenesis. In HCV infectedpatients, we showed an elevated risk of these two diseases. These finding suggested a possible role for chronic HEPATITIS C in the pathogenesis of NHL and cryoglobulinemia.

Background and Aims: It has been hypothesized that nonintestinal inflammatory diseases such as HEPATITIS B VIRUS (HBV) and HEPATITIS C VIRUS (HCV) may trigger immunologic gluten intolerance in susceptible people. This hypothesis suggests a possible epidemiological link between these two diseases, although this assumption is still a matter of debate. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study to assess the prevalence of celiac disease in HBV carrier patients who had been infected in childhood.Results: None of the HBV carrier patients had immunoglobulin A antiendomysium and immunoglobulin A anti-tissue transglutaminase, but 6 patients and 1 recovered subject had immunoglobulin A antigliadin and/or immunoglobulin G antigliadin. Moreover, no patient treated with interferon therapy showed any serological marker of celiac disease. Conclusions: Due to the small sample size, we cannot claim that there is no association between celiac disease (CD) and HBV, although in our study we did not find any CD patients. A sample size that is more representative of the prevalence of CD in Italy would better support the establishment of any possible connection between CD and HBV.

Dear EditorWe read, with great interest, the article by Karimi et al. (1) published in your journal recently, regarding the characterization of HEPATITIS B VIRUS (HBV) genotypes in a group of patients with chronic HEPATITIS B infection. They found a prevalence of 73.9% and 26.1% for genotypes D and C, respectively, in Iranian patients. Bearing this context in mind, some points deserve to be considered.