Are there chances for lesser duration (<48 weeks) of treatment for Genotype 4 with PegInt + Riba?

[arunbansal504]

My mother, aged 58 and weight 93, got 4 log drop in VL after 4 weeks of PegInt (alfa 2b) + Riba. Earlier she was having VL 3182788 IU/mL but now after 4 weeks it's 258 IU/mL only.

[Bolly]

Hi arun, your mother's best chance of clearing the virus is her first chance, and if this is her first attempt then she should try and stick the course, but I believe in the UK the standard treatment for Geno 4 patients had been pegylated interferon and ribavirin for 24-28 weeks. This has an SVR rate of 60-70%. Her log drop shows that the medication is working, but its those remaining stubborn bits of the virus the medication must kill, otherwise the treatment will have been a waste of time and the virus will start replicating again. I think if the virus is undetectable at 24/28 weeks then no there is no benefit going on to 48 weeks. However is the virus is still detectable at 24/28 weeks then a longer course of treatment may be needed, but its up to the specialists supervising your mothers treatment. From what I remember, even if her viral load becomes undetectable while on treatment, she still needs to wait for a PCR to be done 12 weeks after treatment has ended before she can be sure she is cleared of the virus for good.

[226mt]

I was treated with peg interferon plus Riberveron for the 48 wks..geno type 4 and female..i managed to clear my hep c..but it came back after i had mt 12wk blood test..so now waiting for the new non Interferon treatment that has a 90%success but not available until at least next year for most people..i was told people with severe liver damage will be treated first then they will slowly work through everyone acorrding to the severity of disease..they say it is the end of hep c for everyone on this new treatment because of the high clearance rate with all geno types...good news for all people that failed on Interferon