title: Chronic hepatitis C virus infection: a review for pharmacists.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To review the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and therapeutics of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, focusing on patient counseling and adverse effects, to serve as a resource for pharmacists in multiple patient care settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Published articles identified through Medline using search terms such as hepatitis C virus, hepacivirus, ribavirin, interferon alfa-2a, or interferon alfa-2b. Therapeutic guidelines retrieved from www.guidelines.gov and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Additional resources identified from personal bibliographies collected by the author and bibliographies from gathered articles.
  
  
  METHODS
  By the author.
  
  
  METHODS
  By the author.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HCV is a blood-borne pathogen affecting an estimated 4 million Americans and 170 million people worldwide. An estimated two-thirds to three-fourths of those infected with HCV have not been diagnosed, and in the next 10 to 20 years, the number of patients diagnosed with HCV is likely to increase. Thus, the health care community, including pharmacists, needs to be educated about the disease, how it is spread, and the details related to treatment of HCV. The standard therapy for HCV is combination therapy with pegylated interferon and ribavirin. This therapy has a varied rate of response that improves with medication adherence. Adherence is often reduced as a result of adverse effects of therapy. In this article, a basic review of HCV is provided, as well as a thorough discussion of strategies to reduce the incidence and severity of adverse effects related to therapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pharmacists have an important role in educating other health care practitioners and the community about HCV, providing injection training and medication and adverse effect counseling for patients initiating therapy, and engaging in follow-up and monitoring of patients to encourage therapeutic success by improving medication adherence and patient tolerance of adverse effects.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmacy Practice and Administration, College of Pharmacy, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. rodis2@osu.edu
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rodis
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D012367:RNA, Viral