Diabetes care
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The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of clinical and latent autoimmune diseases in Italian patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) chronic infection before and after treatment with interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha). ⋯ We have not found an increased frequency of clinical or latent autoimmune diseases in patients with chronic HCV infection. However, this study suggests that screening patients for autoantibodies (in particular, thyroid and pancreas) before and during IFN-alpha therapy may be useful in assessing the risk of patients developing autoimmune disease.