Hep C has a secret strategy to evade the immune system. And now we know what it is

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/07/26/ [login to see] /hep-c-has-a-secret-strategy-to-evade-the-immune-system-and-now-we-know-what-it-i
How do viruses do their job of infecting humans? Some of them are experts at evading the immune system so that it won't knock them out.

Take hepatitis C, a sneaky and potentially deadly viral infection of the liver that is transmitted by contact with human blood – for example, through needles, sex and childbirth.

Scientists have known for a long time that hep C can hide from our immune system. While the immune system might attack the invading virus at first, leading to mild symptoms like fever or fatigue, the virus eventually hides so the immune system gives up the chase. Which is why most patients with hep C never show symptoms.

That gives hep C plenty of time to replicate and spread throughout healthy liver cells, leading to a chronic case of hepatitis C.