Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the leading causes of liver diseases, presenting a heavy burden to global health systems. Fortunately, we are now in the era of potent pan-genotypic direct antiviral agents (DAAs), and we will embrace the HCV elimination era shortly. However, there are some unaddressed real-world issues. For example, many chronic hepatitis C patients, especially those in resource-limited areas and those at a high risk of infection have no access to screening, diagnosis, and treatment. Hepatitis C micro-elimination and cascade of care are in great needs. On the other hand, although the Sustained Virological Response (SVR) is very high, we must face the difficult-to-treat chronic hepatitis C patients, even though some of them have been treated with the potent DAAs. The mechanism and solution should be investigated. Moreover, the long-term outcome of the DAA-cured hepatitis C patients is still worth following up.

In this Research Topic, we aim to provide perspectives and evidence relating to the cost-effective real-world approaches of screening HCV infection, the mechanisms and treatment solutions for the difficult-to-treat chronic hepatitis C patients, and the sensitive surveillance strategies for the patients achieving SVR after DAA therapy.

We welcome submissions of Original Research, Review, Systematic Review, Mini Review, Meta-analysis, Case Report and Perspective articles on the sub-topics below:

· Finding the cost-effective diagnostic strategies to link the potential HCV infectors to cure: experiences from different populations and settings
· The role of the point-of-care anti-HCV and HCV core antigen testing for screening and treatment monitoring
· Difficult-to-treat chronic hepatitis C in the era of potent direct antiviral agents (DAAs): mechanism and solution
· The role of the resistance associated substitution (RAS) in the DAA treatment failure scenarios
· Liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance in the coming post-DAA era

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Frontiers in Medicine

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