HEPATITIS C, RIBAVIRIN AND INTERFERON.
Report #7227; 9/20/97
An exciting new report in the medical journal, Digestion, shows that hepatitis C can be cured. If you are tired, feel sick and have muscle and joint pains, part of your evaluation should include a blood test for hepatitis C, even if all liver function tests are normal (1). Hepatitis C affects the entire body, not just the liver (2). Some people with hepatitis C are diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis because hepatitis C can cause false positive blood tests for the rheumatoid factor (3). You can become infected with this virus from needles, transfusions, and sometimes from sex and sometimes no source of infection is found. A recent study in the Western Journal of Medicine shows that almost all people who have untreated hepatitis C will carry the virus forever and most will eventually develop liver damage. While most people infected with hepatitis C are still alive twenty years after acquiring that disease, it takes 15 years to develop signs of liver damage, 19 years to suffer permanent liver damage called cirrhosis and 26 years to develop liver cancer (4,5). Hepatitis C is the most common cause of liver cancer in North America (6). The usual treatment is to give yourself three injections a week of interferon for 6 months, which helps to prevent liver cancer (4), but it returns liver tests to normal only 50% of the time and gets rid of the virus in only 20% (5). An exciting new study confirms an earlier study (7) that shows that 76% of people with hepatitis C can be cured with injections of 3 million units of interferon three times a week and ribavirin for 24 weeks (8). A blood test called hepatitis C RNA can be used to measure the amount of hepatitis C virus in your bloodstream. You can usually tell if 6 months of interferon will cure by measuring your viral load after one month of treatment (9). If you still have the virus after 6 months. You should be treated for a longer period of time (10). See report #G125.
By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News
1) M Naito, N Hayashi, T Moribe, H Hagiwara, E Mita, Y Kanazawa, A Kasahara, H Fusamoto,
T Kamada. Hepatitis C viral quasispecies in hepatitis C virus carriers with normal liver
enzymes and patients with type C chronic liver disease. Hepatology 22: 2 (AUG
1995):407-412. 2) L Friedlander, DH Vanthiel, H Faruki, PJ Molloy, RJ Kania, T Hassanein. New approach
to HCV treatment - Recognition of disease process as systemic viral infection rather than
as liver disease. Digestive Diseases and Sciences 41: 8 (AUG 1996):1678-1681. 3) E Bon, A Cantagrel, L Moulinier, M Laroche, M Duffaut, P Arlet, B Mazieres. Rheumatic
Manifestations of Chronic Hepatitis-C and Response to Treatment with Interferon Alpha-2b.
Revue du Rhumatisme 61: 7-8 (JUL-SEP 1994):435-442. Interferon alpha treatment may be
effective in improving these rheumatic manifestations. 4) S Nishiguchi, T Kuroki, S Nakatani, H Morimoto, T Takeda, S Nakajima, S Shiomi, S
Seki, K Kobayashi, S Otani. Randomised trial of effects of interferon-alpha on incidence
of hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic active hepatitis C with cirrhosis. Lancet 346: 8982
(OCT 21 1995):1051-1055. 5) O Weiland, M Chen, G Lindh, L Mattsson, R Schvarcz, A Sonnerborg, M Wahl, R Wejstal.
Efficacy of human leucocyte alpha-interferon in the treatment for chronic hepatitis C
virus infection. Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases 27: 4(1995);319-324. 6) NV Naoumov, S Chokshi, E Metivier, G Maertens, PJ Johnson, R Williams. Hepatitis C
virus infection in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhosis. Journal of
Hepatology 27: 2 (AUG 1997):331-336. 7) JH Braconier, O Paulsen, K Engman, A Widell. Combined alpha-interferon and ribavirin
treatment in chronic hepatitis C: A pilot study. Scandinavian Journal of Infectious
Diseases 27: 4(1995):325-329. 8) MY Lai, JH Kao, PM Yang, JT Wang, PJ Chen, KW Chan, JS Chu, DS Chen. Long-term
efficacy of ribavirin plus interferon alfa in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C.
Gastroenterology 111: 5 (NOV 1996):1307-1312. 9) B Gavier, MA Martinezgonzalez, JI Riezuboj, JJ Lasarte, N Garcia, MP Civeira, J
Prieto. Viremia after one month of interferon therapy predicts treatment outcome in
patients with chronic hepatitis C. Gastroenterology 113: 5 (NOV 1997):1647-1653. 10) L Chemello, L Cavalletto, C Donada, P Bonetti, P Casarin, F Urban, E Bernardinello,
P Pontisso, A Alberti. Efficacy of a second cycle of interferon therapy in patients with
chronic hepatitis C. Gastroenterology 113: 5 (NOV 1997):1654-1659.
Reported 9/20/97; Checked 9/5/05