INTRODUCTION Patients with Hepatitis C are commonly treated with combination of Pegylated Interferon alfa-2a and Ribavirin. Less than 1% of patients receiving this treatment experience very uncommon ophthalmological side effects such as optic neuropathy and vision disorder, which are usually subclinical, mild and reversible, not requiring the withdrawal of the treatment. Retinopathy is the most...

Interferon alpha is a molecule frequently used in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B, C, and D, with immunomodulatory and antiviral activity. It is also used in some cancer types. It has been widely claimed that interferon alpha triggers autoimmunity, with its broad adverse effect profile. Here we present the case of a 29-year-old male patient with chronic hepatitis B diagnosis who developed ...

This was an open-label, uncontrolled study with the aim of assessing the efficacy and safety of pegylated interferon alfa-2b plus ribavirin in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. The study was conducted in Island Hospital, Penang beween January 2002 and December 2003. Thirty-three patients were enrolled in this study with ten defaulters. The overall sustained virological response (SVR) (Inten...

Since the release of amantadine in 1966, other agents designed to fight a diverse range of viral infections have been released. Part I of this two-part article focuses on agents used to manage hepatitis, cytomegalovirus, and herpes infections. In patients with chronic hepatitis B, interferon alfa-2b or lamivudine is the treatment of choice. Pegylated interferon alfa-2a or -2b, along with ribavi...

Interferon is becoming the standard treatment in adults for chronic hepatitis C. Twenty one children with histologically proved chronic hepatitis C (10 boys, range 2.5-13 years), who were otherwise healthy, were enrolled in a randomised controlled study to test their response to interferon alfa. Eleven children were treated with lymphoblastoid interferon alfa (3 million units/m2) for 12 months;...

1 Batocchi AP, Evoli A, Servidei S, Palmisani MT, Apollo F, Tonali P. Myasthenia gravis during interferon alfa therapy. Neurology 1 995;45:382-3. 2 Riedel RR, Schmitt A, Hartmann A. Ocular pseudo-myasthenic reaction induced by interferon in an AIDS patient. Kin Wochenschr 1991;69:930-1. 3 Fritze D, Herrman JRC, Naeim F, Smith GS, Zeller E, Walford RL. The biological significance of HL-A antigen...

background egypt has one of the highest (16-8%) prevalence rates of hcv infection in the world. approximately 90% of egyptian hcv isolates belong to a single subtype (4a), which responds less successfully to interferon therapy than other subtypes. studies comparing the efficacy and safety of pegifn alfa-2a and pegifn alfa-2b in treatment-naive hcv-infected patients have shown conflicting result...