In an interview last week, the former Baywatch star told a newspaper: "The doctor said 'you have a glitch with your blood.' He told me I had hepatitis C. I asked how I could get rid of it, and he said, 'Well, you can't'."

As those who work with hepatitis C patients know, that is no longer the case.

IS THE VIRUS GONE?

So you've gone through treatment and you still test negative 6 months later. Is the virus really gone? Can you stop worrying?  Researchers in this recent study examined the blood of randomly chosen patients who once had hep C and had either resolved it spontaneously (5 patients) or through treatment (11 patients).

They tested the peripheral blood mononuclear cells and in some cases, the monocyte-derived dendritic cells,  using a very sensitive test (RT-PCR-NAH) and by real-time RT-PCR.  Their results showed that HCV RNA was
carried in the convalescent-phase sera and/or PBMC in all 16 individuals investigated.  Also, HCV RNA negative strand were found in most of the blood tested.

This suggests that the virus is multiplying, even in samples from patients who tested negative 5 years after treatment. The results suggest that HCV can remain in the blood and lymphoid cells at very low levels and an intermediate replicative form of the virus can remain in the body many years after the apparent resolution of the virus.

Source: Pham TN, et al, J Virol. 2004
Jun;78(11):5867-74. Hepatitis C virus persistence
after spontaneous or treatment-induced resolution
hepatitis C.

(courtesy of: Sept 2004 hepc.bull - Canada's Hepatitis C News Bulletin)

Hepatitis C Virus Persistence after Spontaneous or Treatment-Induced Resolution of Hepatitis C
(the above cited trial, complete)

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Persistence of Virus Following Successful Therapy

Sustained viral response to hepatitis C therapy is defined as an undetectable serum HCV-RNA 6 months after stopping treatment, regardless of the therapy used. This definition has become the cornerstone of hepatitis C treatment because its attainment has a significant impact upon both the patient and the treating physician.

An important study was presented by Radkowski and colleagues^[9] during these meeting proceedings that places into question our definition of response. They evaluated for the presence of hepatitis C viral RNA in either stimulated lymphocytes, cultured macrophages, or posttreatment liver biopsy samples from 17 sustained viral responders to combination interferon and ribavirin therapy. HCV-RNA was detectable in the macrophages of 11 (65%) patients and in the lymphocytes of 7 (41%) patients. Three patients had HCV-RNA detectable in liver tissue. Overall, only 2 of the 17 (12%) sustained viral responders were negative for the presence of HCV-RNA in all analyzed specimens.

These findings are important because they bring into question the current definition of sustained viral response. These findings need to be further evaluated in larger series because the persistence of virus may have significant implications on future disease progression, disease activation, disease transmission, and the development or persistence of hepatic fibrosis.

source: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/495211
( 9. Radkowski M, Jablonski J, Wilkinson J, et al. Persistence of hepatitis C virus in patients successfully treated for chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology. 2004;40:180A. [Abstract #41])

My page for all this is: http://borderline.gotdns.org/isvirusgone.html

Next item for me to comment on is:

"We have a major problem in this country with very few people being treated," says Charles Gore, chief executive of the Hepatitis C Trust. "One of the reasons is that people are not aware that a cure is available. If you think you may have the disease, but believe there is no cure, you may feel there is no point in getting a diagnosis."

Next item:

"Only a small number of individuals have symptoms at the time of infection," says Dr Adrian Hamlyn, a consultant physician and liver specialist at the Dudley Group of Hospitals in the West Midlands. "Without treatment, a vast majority will develop chronic infection and about a third will have cirrhosis of the liver." In a few cases, cancer of the liver can develop.

In up to 15 per cent of patients, the virus clears itself. The rest will need treatment to eliminate HCV from the blood, ideally before it does serious damage, which is why early testing is so vital.

Treatment involves a tough regime of weekly interferon injections and daily anti-viral ribavarin tablets that bring unpleasant side effects. Some strains of HCV respond to treatment better than others: the overall success rate is around 60 per cent.

Next:

"Even when the virus cannot be eliminated, inflammatory activity in the liver can sometimes be suppressed," says Dr Hamlyn. "And new drugs are being developed that stop the virus from replicating. Trials have shown them to be very effective, but at the moment, they are too toxic for general release."