HCV is spherical, less than 80 nm in diameter (36 to 40 nm in hepatocytes, 36-62 nm in blood), is a single-stranded positive- strand RNA virus, and is surrounded by a lipid-containing cap- sule in the nucleocapsid. Hepatitis C is a viral hepatitis caused by HCV infection, which is mainly transmitted by blood transf- usion, acupuncture and drug use. Hepatitis C is globally prev- alent and can cause chronic inflammation, necrosis and fibro- sis in the liver. Some patients can develop cirrhosis or even h- epatocellular carcinoma. The mortality associated with HCV i- nfection (hepatic failure and death from hepatocellular carcin- oma) will continue to increase in the next 20 years, which is extremely harmful to patients’ health and life.

HCV has high variability, and there is no effective hepatitis C vaccine available. Therefore, it is particularly important to pre- vent and control the infection and spread of hepatitis C. As an important hepatitis C marker, HCV antibody is one of the most important diagnostic methods for hepatitis C.