Hepatitis C genotypes in hemophilic patients treated with alpha‐interferon

The effect of α‐interferon on the hepatitis C genotypes was examined in 25 anti‐HCV‐positive hemophilic patients. The rate of multiple HCV genotypes in patients who are likely to have mixed infections was also studied. Pretreatment results showed that 3/25 (12%) patients had a change in genotypes, whereas posttreatment this rose to 10/25 (40%). Seven of 10 (70%) patients who showed a change in genotype had a clinical response to α‐interferon. Six of 25 (24%) patients showed a complete clinical response to α‐interferon, and the majority of these were either type 2 or 3. This study supports previous evidence that type 1 is less likely to respond to α‐interferon, and that a‐interferon may alter the concentrations of the various circulating genotypes present in multiply‐infected patients. There are many difficulties in studying hepatitis C in hemophilic patients due to the sequence heterogeneity within each individual, and this study has shown that no ideal method exists as yet for looking at HCV genotypes in multiply‐infected individuals. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. Copyright © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company