Hepatitis C raises risk of lymphoma

By Geoff Michaels, June 17th, 2013 | Health | 0 Comments

There is a link between the hepatitis C virus and non-Hodkgin’s lymphoma, say researchers at the University of British Columbia.
Nearly four million Americans are infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), a chronic infection that may lead to serious liver damage. Now a team at the University of British Columbia reveals another health consequence of HCV - an increased risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL).

They looked at a group of 550 NHL cases and compared them with 205 controls, to assess the frequency of HCV infection. The comparison showed that, overall, those with HCV had a six times greater risk of developing NHL. What is more, they had a 17 times greater risk of developing diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, which is the most common form of NHL. Further work is now needed to clarify and investigate this new virus-cancer link.