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Brian Vastag

JAMA. 2002;288:307.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The number of cases of chronic hepatitis C is expected to increase four-fold during the next decade as a result of unsuspected infections from tainted blood transfusions, injection drug use, and occupational exposures (such as needlesticks) before routine screening began in the early 1990s. Complications such as cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, and liver cancer are expected to rise also, keeping hepatitis C virus (HCV) the most common reason for liver transplants, according to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) consensus panel statement in June.

The panel tempered this news with optimism on the effectiveness of treatment with interferon and ribavirin, which together work better than either drug alone. Panelists noted that patients with genotype 1 HCV, who account for nearly 75% of cases, require longer therapy and have generally poorer response to the drugs. Although absence of study data makes it difficult to correlate drug therapy with long-term . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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