Hepatitis C Virus Infection Caused by Infrequent Exposure in China Should Be of Concern.

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection is a huge public health problem globally, because it can lead to adverse long-term clinical outcomes. In China, the population has experienced a skyrocketing growth of HCV infections because of paid blood donations in the late 1980s to early 1990s (Lu et al. 2013; Yin et al. 2015). Fortunately, the prevalence of HCV infection has declined dramatically since mid-1990s and was less than 1% in recent years (Cui and Jia 2013; Fu et al. 2010). However, the huge size of population in China makes a quite enormous absolute number of people infected with HCV. Like other agents causing blood-borne diseases, HCV is mainly transmitted through exchange of bodily fluids and intravenous drug use, as well as vertical transmission (Lauer and Walker 2001). Compared to the more in-depth understanding on infection and virus transmission in high-risk groups, limited data are available concerning the HCV infection caused by infrequent exposure in general population. Herein, we documented two sisters with chronic HCV infection and our attempts to dissect the transmission routes of their infections.