Ribavirin treatment for chronic Hepatitis E

This month's issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine investigates ribavirin treatment for chronic Hepatitis E.

There is currently no accepted treatment of chronic hepatitis E virus infection.

Dr Vincent Mallet and colleagues from France evaluated case reports of 2 patients in whom ribavirin therapy seemed to alter the natural history of chronic Hepatitis E virus infection.

The research evaluated a kidney and pancreas transplant recipient and a patient with idiopathic CD4+ T lymphocytopenia, both with biopsy-proven chronic Hepatitis E virus infection.

Patients received oral ribavirin, 12 mg/kg of body weight daily for 12 weeks.

The team assessed liver function tests, detection of Hepatitis E virus RNA (viremia and stool shedding) by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, and anti-Hepatitis E virus IgM and IgG antibodies.

The research team noted that both patients had normalized liver function test results after 2 weeks of treatment and cleared Hepatitis E virus after 4 weeks of treatment.

The research team found that Hepatitis E virus RNA remained undetectable in the serum and stools throughout follow-up.

Side effects were considered mild.

Dr Mallet's team concludes, "Ribavirin is a potentially effective treatment of HEV infection and should be evaluated in patients with chronic Hepatitis E virus infection."

Ann Int Med 2010: 153(2): 85-89
21 July 2010
 
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