A recent study has shown that a acute hepatitis C may be cured over 6 weeks using a direct acting antiviral treatment.
Patients with acute hepatitis C were given a combination of drugs called sofosbuvir and ledipasvir. Their dosage was over a period of six weeks. After a 12 week follow up, there was no detectable hepatitis C virus or HCV in their systems. The study was conducted by researchers at the Hannover Medical School in Germany.
Researchers say, Early diagnosis of HCV infection is rare and the disease may go unnoticed until patients have already developed serious liver damage. Given the high cost of sofosbuvir and ledipasvir, and the associated side effects that occur during treatment, we set out to assess whether shortened treatment duration could be an effective option for acute Hepatitis C patients. Our research demonstrates that not only is the combination of sofosbuvir and ledipasvir safe, well tolerated and effective in acute HCV genotype 1 patients who have severe liver disease with very high liver enzymes, but a shorter treatment duration does not appear to hinder efficacy.