title: Treatment of acute and chronic hepatitis C.
abstract: Interferon is currently the only available treatment for chronic hepatitis C but is effective in only about 40% of patients. Most of these responding patients relapse after short courses, so that sustained long-term viral-negative responses are uncommon (10% to 20%). However, longer treatment courses have significantly reduced relapse, thereby increasing sustained response rates. Furthermore, the combination of ribavirin with interferon shows promise for reducing relapse even further. The challenge for the future is to develop antiviral agents that will be effective in the large proportion of patients who do not respond to interferon.
authors.affiliation: Section of Hepatobiliary Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL 32610-0214, USA.
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000547:Amantadine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000254:growth & development*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D012008:Recurrence; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D012254:Ribavirin; D000547:Amantadine