I have recently discover on leaflet that hepetitis c have different strains and they respond differently at the terapy.Why my doctor don't have mentioned nothing about it? between 2 weeks I have to start interferon terapy and i would like to know wich strains am.somebody can tell me about your experience with interferon ,I scare about it a lot.(Sorry the errors but I'm not English).Thank you.Ziffy1
There are six major 'genotypes', or strains of HCV. There is a blood test available to determine this, it is somehwat similar to the confirmaion test for HCV you haved probably received already. As you mentioned, the duration of therapy is determined by genotype, and some of the new drugs are genotype specific. Ask your doctor for the 'HCV genotype' blood test.
Good luck-
--Bill