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Alcohol Ups Hepatitis C Virus Replication

Reuters Health (07.22.03) - Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Alcohol increases the replication of hepatitis C virus and interferes with the effectiveness of interferon used to treat hepatitis C, according to a recently published study. Lead author Dr. Wen-Zhe Ho, from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and associates examined the effects of alcohol on HCV-infected cells in lab dishes. "These findings provide practical guidance toward the reduction of risk factors that interfere with interferon- based therapy and promote HCV disease progression," Ho said. However, Ho stressed that all this was determined in laboratory research, not patients. Whether it is meaningful in clinical practice "needs to be confirmed by epidemiological investigations, which is what we would like to do in the future." The study, "Alcohol Potentiates Hepatitis C Virus Replicon Expression," was published in Hepatology (2003;38(1):57-65).
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