The increased prevalence of CCR5del32 homozygosity associated with increased viral loads in patients with chronic hepatitis C suggests that the CCR5del32 mutation may be an adverse host factor in hepatitis C. Only CCR2 has been reported as underrepresented in HCV patients who cleared the virus spontaneously, and in that study, none of the other variants in the CCR gene cluster, such as CCR1 and CCR5, showed association with the natural course of the infection, stage of fibrosis, or response to therapy [33]. Here, CCR5 is linked to infection.