Cure for Hepatitis C The Medical Community

Cure for Hepatitis C

The medical community continues to scramble to find a cure for Hepatitis C, a disease that threatens the liver and can often prove to be fatal to those who become infected with it.

Hepatitis C is a blood borne disease that can be acquired through shared needles, blood to blood contact and other contact with bodily fluids. Hepatitis C has symptoms that include fatigue, vomiting, jaundice, pain in right side going through to the back sometimes and elevated liver enzymes. Once one is infected with Hepatitis C there is no cure though current research is working to locate one.

Currently there is no cure for Hepatitis C and part of that is because of the mutating ability of the disorder. Even within the same patient the disorder can mutate and change many times. This presents a serious problem in the quest for a cure or vaccine though scientists are not giving up.

Because HCV mutates frequently within infected patients, so even if an effective vaccine is developed, it could be rendered useless by a new strain of mutant virus (Hep C (http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1999/299_hepc.html)."

One of the more central focuses in the search for a cure revolves around the development of a cell culture. This ability provides scientist a viable means to study the virus with outside of the human body.

By understanding how the virus replicates and how it injures cells, researchers may be able to develop ways to control the virus as well as drugs to block it. Several drugs currently under study show some promise as future treatments for the disease. They include thymosin, amantadine, and other forms of interferon (Hep C (http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1999/299_hepc.html)." What we really need, of course, is a vaccine against this disease," Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., told a congressional committee last year. "However, we cannot underestimate the complexity of this task, particularly because of the rapid rate at which the virus mutates." Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases say a vaccine is likely 10 years away (Hep C (http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1999/299_hepc.html)."

While a cure is being searched out there are three basic treatments for the virus which include:

Interferon therapy -- effective in about 20% of individuals with HCV

Combination therapy with interferon and ribavirin -- effective in about 50% of individuals with HCV

Bioengineered interferon -- effective in 60-70% of individuals with HCV (Hepatitis C

http://www.engenderhealth.org/wh/inf/dhepc.html#cureIs there a treatment or cure for hepatitis C?)."

CONCLUSION

Hepatitis C is a devastating and deadly virus that has wreaked havoc on the lives of millions of people. While the medical community continues to search out a cure the public needs to remain ever mindful of safe practices to reduce their risk.

All of these treatments, which are given by injection, may cause side effects, such as fever, headache, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting. In addition, treatment may affect the body's normal production of blood cells.