Hiya, Bob— and welcome to the discussion group.
Genotype 3 patients tend to be relatively responsive to interferon therapy; the odds of success are considered to be about 70%. This compares to 45-50% for genotype 1, and roughly 80% for genotype 2.
I think it’s probably a wise decision to go ahead and treat for genotype 3 now. There are new drugs in the fire that will eventually be used adjunctively with interferon/ribavirin, but their focus is on genotype 1 (and perhaps 2). They didn’t perform well in clinical trial for GT-3:
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http://www.natap.org/2009/EASL/EASL_13.htm
“Telaprevir Effective for Genotype 2 But Not For Genotype 3
EASL April 23-26 2009
Copenhagen, Denmark
Reported by Jules Levin
In phase IIb studies in treatment-naives, mostly caucasians, telaprevir in combination with peg/RBV improved SVR rates in half the time of treatment compared with standard of care:
--PROVE1: 61% vs 41% (p=0.02)
--PROVE2: 69% vs 46% (p=.004)
In this study genotype 2 treatment naive patients achieved a mean 4 log reduction in viral load after 6 days on monotherapy with telaprevir. The triple combination of telaprevir + peg/RBV achieved a mean 5.3 log reduction in viral load at day 16. But genotype 3 patients only achieved a -.80 reduction in viral load so therapy for genotype 3 won't be pursued.”
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Viral load isn’t too important until the patient begins therapy; after that, it’s used as a barometer for response to treatment. Perhaps you could elaborate on your wife’s viral load again; were the results perhaps 2.76 million (IU/mL)? Or maybe log 2.79? There are different ways of expressing viral load, and it’s often confusing.
Speaking of confusing, we tend to use a lot of acronyms in here; this alphabet soup actually begins to make sense if you look here:
http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Hepatitis/Common-Hepatitis-C-Acronyms/show/3?cid=64
This page can also be found in the lower-right hand margin of this page, in a box entitled ‘Most Viewed Health Pages”
Many of us request hard copies of lab and procedure results, and begin a medical file at home; this helps us communicate more effectively in here, as well as with other specialists, if the need arises.
Good luck to you both,
--Bill