Not all people are equally vulnerable to hepatitis C - new study
(WorldNews Health)

Pygmies in the Dzanga-Sangha Forest Reserve, Central African Republic. Sergey Uryadnikov/Shutterstock.com The hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects around 1% of the human population and is a devastating pathogen. In most people, it silently infects the liver for decades, often causing life-threatening inflammation, scarring and even cancer. How the virus achieves this feat has long puzzled scientists. In our latest study, published in PLOS Pathogens , we found that a molecule that defends against HCV and other pathogens is weaker in humans than in our closest relative, the chimpanzee. This weakened molecule might have made it easier for some viruses, such as HCV, to infect and cause disease...