Rate of Sustained Virologic Response in Relation to Baseline Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) RNA Level and Rapid Virologic Clearance in Persons with Acute HCV Infection

Treatment of acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection leads to a sustained virologic response (SVR) in the vast majority of patients, although the clinical predictors of these favorable responses are not well understood. In chronic infection, the most potent predictor of a SVR is complete viral suppression after four weeks of treatment, also known as a rapid virologic response (RVR). However, few patients with genotype-1 infection and high-level viremia ever achieve this benchmark. In two separate cohorts of patients with acute HCV infection, we demonstrate that rapid virologic clearance and low-level viremia (<400,000 IU/ml) are highly prevalent, regardless of genotype.