Original article
English
Nagat Bousifi ¹, Ibrahim Baghdadi ¹, Mohamed Abubaker ², Ali Tumi ²
1-Department of Infectious Diseases, 2-Department of Medicine, Central Hospital of Tripoli, Libya
JMJ Vol.8, No.2 (Summer) 2008:105-108
Abstract
Background and Aims: Therapy of chronic hepatitis C (HCV) infection results in lower sustained virological response in patients infected with (HCV) genotypes 1 and 4 than genotypes 2 and 3. Data regarding therapy of hepatitis C in our country are limited and response to HCV treatment according to genotypes has not been evaluated. We studied the sustained virological response (SVR) in unselected consecutive patients with chronic hepatitis C treated outside clinical trials in a single virology clinic. Patients and Methods: From 2002 to 2005, 196 consecutive patients (naïve to INF therapy) who were followed up by the researchers in the virology clinic were treated with INF alpha-2a (Roferon-A) in combination with Ribavirin according to body weight for 24 to 48 weeks according to their HCV genotype. For all patients HCV-RNA was measured by quantitative PCR at baseline followed by qualitative PCR at the end of treatment, and after 24 weeks of untreated follow up period for the evaluation of the SVR. Results: A total of 196 patients were treated in the period between September 2002 to March 2005, 22 (11%) patients stopped the treatment before assessing any viral response. Data of 174 patients where analyzed, 111(64%) were males, mean age was 40.2 yrs, baseline ALT was normal in 94(54%) patients, and baseline PCR was > 2 million copies/ml in 86 (49%) patients. Genotype distribution was as follows: genotype1; 68(39%), genotype 2; 31(18%), genotype 3; 26(15%), genotype 4; 49 (28%). The overall sustained virological response (SVR) was seen in 51(29%) patients, 92(53%) patients were nonresponders, while relapse was seen in 31(18%) patients. In the analysis according to genotypes the SVR was best with genotype 3 (58%), followed by genotype 2(32%). In genotype 4, it was 29%, and in genotype 1, SVR was 17%. Conclusion: The sustained virological response (SVR) was best with genotype 3 and worst with genotype 1, and the relapse rate was surprisingly high in genotype 2 patients. Our results may reflect a genetic difference in the host response to interferon therapy.
Keywords: Hepatitis C, Interferon, Ribavirin, HCV RNA, Sustained response
Link/DOI: http://www.jmj.org.ly/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1466