[Extrahepatic manifestations in patients with chronic infections due to the hepatitis C virus]

Autoimmunity and viral infections are closely related, and viruses have been proposed as possible etiologic or triggering agents of systemic autoimmune diseases (SAD). The hepatitis C virus (HCV), a linear, single-stranded RNA virus, identified in 1989, is recognized as one of the viruses most often associated with autoimmune features. The association between HCV and SAD has generated growing interest in recent years. The extrahepatic manifestations often observed in patients with chronic HCV infection (both clinical and immunological) may lead to the fulfilment of the current classification criteria for some SAD.