Hard-Won Advances Spark Excitement About Hepatitis C

PARIS-- Last month, some 1000 hepatitis C researchers met here at an annual conference to discuss the headway they have made recently in understanding and taming the virus--including a new animal model and insights into natural immunity--raising hopes about drugs or vaccines to fight the epidemic. However, there were also some letdowns to report, including a continued inability to get the virus to grow in the lab, which has handicapped research efforts.