title: [Antiviral therapy of hepatitis C].
abstract: Hepatitis C is one of the world's leading infectious diseases. The interferon-ribavirin combination therapy is the new standard for the treatment of hepatitis C in naive and relapse patients. Virological sustained response rates can be more than doubled by the IFN-ribavirin combination therapy compared to IFN-monotherapy and treatment duration can be reduced to six months in many cases. The IFN-ribavirin combination therapy has a high relative benefit in patients with unfavorable predictive parameters like high viral load, HCV genotype-1 infection and compensated liver cirrhosis. Anemia is the most important side effect of the guanosin analogue ribavirin. There are no official therapeutic recommendations for non-responder patients at present. These patients should be treated within controlled clinical trials. Monotherapy with PEG(pegylated)-interferons and combination therapies with PEG-interferons and ribavirin are the most promising future therapeutic options.
authors.affiliation: Klinik für Gastroenterologie, Hepatologie und Infektiologie der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Erhardt
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Petry
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ebel
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jablonowski
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Heintges
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Häussinger
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007372:Interferons / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D012254:Ribavirin; D007372:Interferons