week 4 results

[aquarius121]

My viral load was almost 2 mill at start wk. 4 is 1,870 I was hoping for UND but nurse said #'s are really good. I was reading about aleast a 2 log drop at wk 4 was good I am not sure what a log is any input would be great.

[Marcia2202]

I'm also a g3a, only cleared at 8 weeks and treated for 32... Was still UND 4 weeks post and will have my 24week post tx PCR mid-September. I hope it worked.

All genotypes clearing at 4weeks have a 90% chance of SVR. I'm not sure why the pivoting point for geno 2 & 3 is at 4 weeks (RVR), but it seems that 24 weeks of tx is not enough for SVR, if one does not RVR. It is just how the virus is, I guess.

I'm very sorry for your relapse after 48 weeks for a 3a. Are you taking more riba this time? The stupid thing is that Telaprevir doesn't bite on geno 3. I hope they will come up with something that will. Have you talked to your doc about Alinia? It might do the trick. I don't know if it helps to throw it into the cocktail at this time.

If not, you could maybe stop treatment, wait some time, and start up with Alinia and then add the riba and peg. There are some ppl on the forum who have done or are doing Alinia at the moment. I'm not familiar with the whole thing, as I have only been brushing through the subject. If I don't make it, i will want to look into it.

[aquarius121]

I am geno 3a my first tx I was UND between 8-12 wk treated for 48wk then relasped 3mos. We have talked about possible 72 wks this time. Why is it that geno 3 or 2 have to clear by 4wks?

[Marcia2202]

What genotype are you and how long are you treating? If you are a geno 2 or 3 and have not cleared by 4 weeks, I would advise you to talk to you doctor about extending treatment.

If you are a geno 1, this is great news!

Good luck, Marcia

[nygirl7]

a 3 log drop is nothing so sneer at in fact it's wonderful!  I'm sure you will be UND at your next test!

[mj6000]

My results were similar to yours,I started at 4 million...at 4 weeks I was 6,000.My Dr also said that although not UND it was very good.

[Bill1954]

Hi there,

It sounds as though you are experiencing an excellent viral response. A 2 log reduction from baseline at four weeks is 20,000 IU/mL; simply remove zeros from the right hand side of the viral load:

Baseline VL- 2,000,000
1 log drop- 200,000
2 log drop- 20,000
3 log drop- 2000
4 log drop- 200

etc.

A 1 log drop equals a 90% reduction in virus; a 2 log drop represents a 99% reduction, while a 3 log drop equals 99.9% reduction. Good stuff :o). The term ‘Log’ comes from the mathematical logarithm; if you have a ‘LOG’ key on a scientific calculator, it can be used to determine log reduction too.

Good luck, and let us know how things proceed—

Bill