Los Angeles - Nearly all people infected with the liver-damaging hepatitis C virus can vanquish the virus if they are treated soon after becoming infected, scientists have reported. A new study recommends aggressively treating patients with a virus-fighting drug - interferon - in the first few months of infection.
Under current therapies, only about 50 per cent of so-called chronic cases of hepatitis C can be cured. The disease can cause chronic liver disease, leading in some cases to death from liver failure. It also increases the risk of liver cancer. The new finding was released weeks before publication in the New England Journal of Medicine because of its clinical importance.