[Oldog4tz]

the sad fact is that many (most?) docs -even the ones that call themselves hepetologists (there is no no such actual specialty) - know little about HCV - generally viral load below 800,000 is considered "low" for hcv genotype 1 - when i had my last interferon/ribaviron/improgen/nuprogen treatment 3 years ago my viral load was over 6,000,000. Within 6 weeks it was undetectable - That's the key to interferon- rapid lowering of viral load - if it happens, it's likely worked, if it's slow going down and detectable after a a few weeks, probably not.

that said, there are two types of pegulated interferon - alpha2a and alpha2b - Italian studies show that genotype 1 responds significantly better to alpha2a. they also found that thin people respond better to treatment-

i've worked as a peer-educator and the best advice i can give is not to listen to those that practice HCV treatment part-time - get yourself into the UC system if at all possible - failing that the VA - these guys see 100s (1000s?) of HCV patients and are far more likely to explore treatment options than dr bob in east bumfuck