The initial period of hepatitis C virus infection (2-12 weeks) is called the acute phase, and the infected person may have no obvious symptoms. Only a minority of people can clear the virus on their own and recover spontaneously, and most develop chronic hepatitis C (about 60%-85%). Chronic hepatitis C refers to those who can still detect the hepatitis C virus more than six months after infection. Patients may have no obvious symptoms, but the virus replicates in the liver cells and will continue to damage the liver, causing inflammation and necrosis of liver cells, which will then develop into liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. After 20 years of infection, the probability of developing cirrhosis is 10%-15%. The probability of developing liver cancer after cirrhosis is 1-7% per year.