curing hep c

[terca]

I am going to start my first injection on Jan. 21,2010.I am trying to get prepared for the worst,and hopefully it won`t be as bad as I suspect.I am new to this forum and have been reading alot of members posts.I didn`t see any posts about if anybody after treatment was pronounced cured.I am very interested as to what my chances might be.The clinical trial I am starting is testing a new drug by Roshe,and they didn`t even give it a name yet.I am looking forward to communicating with others that are or have been through this treatment.

[terca]

Thank you for all your comments.I had a liver biopsy last Tuesday.I am now waiting for the results.

[newleaf09]

There will always be debate about the use of the word "cured".  Some physicians feel that the virus is removed from the blood stream and undetectable in the blood, but remnants of the viral genome remain in the body.  That makes doctors who believe that theory want to refer to SVR as HCV 'in remission' rather than cured.  Other doctors regard removal of the virus from blood, followed by a suitable treatment period to remove it from liver cells to indicate a "cure".  Mikesimon, another poster on this forum, recently posted a study about kidney transplant patients who were carefully scrutinized for HCV and absolutely no virus was found, even though the transplant patients were on anti-immune drugs to suppress rejection of the new kidney.  They found absolutely nothing in every single patient who had SVR'd with prior HCV treatment.    The language will catch up later.  I'd regard the SVR as an indication of 'cured'.

[FlGuy]

Good luck

[DD9th]

When you see people posting about SVR, that is equivalent to being 'cured' when dealing with HCV.  Sustained Virological Response (SVR) basically means that the virus is undetectable (UND) in your blood tests.  If you have UND for 6 months after the end of treatment, you have achieved SVR, and can consider yourself cured.  

I believe that HepC antibodies will always be present in your system, but from what I'm understanding here is that the only way after SVR to get HepC again is to become re-infected.  

Good Luck.  I know I was in the same boat as you, expecting the worst, and finding that I am able to deal with the side effects.  I have 3 months to go and am halfway there.