Moreover, epidemic disease — literally, disease coming "upon the people" — was then widely ascribed not to contagion but to atmospheric "miasmas".
"If they wanted to stop the disease coming in they should have reacted before this year rather than sitting around waiting for it to come in," says Peterken.
But, he warned, "patients need to be aware that if their treatment is compromised too much they may lose in the long run, with the disease coming back".
The results should be a relief for Trump's Republican rivals, who have taken pains to distance themselves from the flamboyant mogul and his remarks about "rapists", "criminals" and "tremendous infectious disease" coming into the US from Mexico.
Dr Charbel Moussa, who led the study at Georgetown University Medical Centre in Washington DC, told the New Scientist: "We've seen patients at end stages of the disease coming back to life".
It's not just 'come into the clinic, get your shot, here's your pill.' " Hepatitis C is a chief scourge in the world of liver disease, coming from an infectious blood-transmitted virus that has proved tricky to treat, let alone cure.
