Cure

Nearly all -- 99 percent -- of patients with hepatitis C who were treated successfully with peginterferon alone, or in combination with ribavirin, had no detectable virus up to seven years later. Researchers say this data validates the use of the word "cure" when describing hepatitis C treatment as successful treatment is defined as having undetectable hepatitis C virus in the blood six months following treatment.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070521155314.htm

[BonnieRobin]

Well thats certainly the most encouraging news I have heard....Wowie!!
Thanks for sharing that. Im working now and boy did my brain need to hear that.
Hope you are feeling good..
Regards,
Bonnie

[beamishboy]

dang ,bill...we posted similiar if not same news simultaneously!!.i just finished posting and then...find yours......GOOD news travels fast,eh!!!! does this mean i owe you a shot of procrit??

[DoubleDose]

Note my post above regarding the definition of 'cure'.  Having undetectable virus in the blood six months post-tx is the current standard milestone for achieving the 'cure', but other questions remain beyond having 'undetectable virus in the blood'.  Many of these questions will be answered in the coming years.

What we really need to clarify are issues like the eight relapsers out of 1000 in the study, and whether any of them were truly 'relapsers' rather than being re-infected.  There have also been a few reports of SVR's relapsing many years later after receiving heavy doses of immuno-suppressive drugs.  We need to know whether this is indeed true, or whether they also may have been reinfected somehow.  If there are real cases of relapse beyond five years after therapy, then we are dealing with a virus 'in remission', and we will need to understand the ramifications of this as well.  If the relapses are not really valid, real relapses, and are either reinfections, or people who were never really fully cured, then we do indeed have a true "Cure" with the capital C.

I agree, the writers they do 'parse' words, and put a most positive spin on the entire issue.  That may be good for us as far as obtaining insurance, societal relations and how people view us, etc.  But let's also make sure that there is nothing more that we should be aware of, or have to deal with in the future.

DoubleDose