What is the best treatment for Hepatitis C?

Doctors use Interferon right now to treat hepatitis C but i think there are other medicines out there that are on the rise. This is the ONLY treatment for active hepatitis C. You should avoid drinking alcoholic beverages and take only medicine and over-the-counter medicine that your doc says is okay to take to avoid further damaging the liver.

The best thing is to ask a hepatitis C specialist or liver specialist because they will be more aware of all the newest technologies available. Right now doctors use interferons and other drugs such as ribavirin or combination of both, but all of these have some side effects that you should know about them before you start. I send you these links to read more about the treatments available. Good luck

Treatment

The therapy for chronic hepatitis C has evolved steadily since alpha interferon was first approved for use in this disease more than 10 years ago. At the present time, the optimal regimen appears to be a 24- or 48-week course of the combination of pegylated alpha interferon and ribavirin.

Alpha interferon is a host protein that is made in response to viral infections and has natural antiviral activity. Recombinant forms of alpha interferon have been produced, and several formulations (alfa-2a, alfa-2b, consensus interferon) are available as therapy for hepatitis C. These standard forms of interferon, however, are now being replaced by pegylated interferons (peginterferons). Peginterferon is alpha interferon that has been modified chemically by the addition of a large inert molecule of polyethylene glycol. Pegylation changes the uptake, distribution, and excretion of interferon, prolonging its half-life. Peginterferon can be given once weekly and provides a constant level of interferon in the blood, whereas standard interferon must be given several times weekly and provides intermittent and fluctuating levels. In addition, peginterferon is more active than standard interferon in inhibiting HCV and yields higher sustained response rates with similar side effects. Because of its ease of administration and better efficacy, peginterferon has been replacing standard interferon both as monotherapy and as combination therapy for hepatitis C.

Ribavirin is an oral antiviral agent that has activity against a broad range of viruses. By itself, ribavirin has little effect on HCV, but adding it to interferon increases the sustained response rate by two- to threefold. For these reasons, combination therapy is now recommended for hepatitis C, and interferon monotherapy is applied only when there are specific reasons not to use ribavirin.

Combination therapy leads to rapid improvements in serum ALT levels and disappearance of detectable HCV RNA in up to 70 percent of patients. However, long-term improvement in hepatitis C occurs only if HCV RNA disappears during therapy and stays undetectable once therapy is stopped. Among patients who become HCV RNA negative during treatment, a proportion relapse when therapy is stopped. The relapse rate is lower in patients treated with combination therapy compared with monotherapy. Thus, a 48-week course of combination therapy using peginterferon and ribavirin yields a sustained response rate of approximately 55 percent. A similar course of peginterferon monotherapy yields a sustained response rate of only 35 percent. A response is considered "sustained" if HCV RNA remains undetectable for 6 months or more after stopping therapy.

http://www.aidsmeds.com/news/20020612pro...
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases...
http://www.chronic-hepatitis-treatment.c...