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Follow‐up of chronic paediatric hepatitis C virus in a low‐/middle‐income country
Author(s) -
ElShabrawi Mortada,
Baroudy Sherif,
Hassanin Fetouh,
Behairy Ahmed Saed,
Yakoot Mostafa,
Ahmed Ayaat
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/apa.15333
Subject(s) - medicine , sofosbuvir , ledipasvir , daclatasvir , ribavirin , cohort , adverse effect , gastroenterology , hepatitis c virus , hepatitis c , chronic hepatitis , surgery , virus , virology
Aim Follow‐up of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection following Interferon (IFN) plus Ribavirin (RBV) or direct‐acting antiviral (DAA) drug therapy in a cohort of paediatric outpatients as confirmed by a sustained virologic response (SVR). Methods This study included a cohort of 60 patients (6‐18 years), divided into 2 groups: Group 1:21 patients who completed treatment with IFN/RBV. Group 2:39 treated with dual DAA therapy: 19 with Sofosbuvir/Ledipasvir (SOF/LED) and 20 with Sofosbuvir/Daclatasvir (SOF/DCV). Results Group 1:12 (57.1%) were cured, six were IFN/RBV treatment failure then subsequently treated with DAAs successfully, and three had liver transplants. IFN/RBV side effects were reported in all patients; however, fibrosis regressed in two cured patients. Group 2: all were cured. HCV RNA became negative in all DAAs‐treated patients at weeks 2, 4 and 12 of treatment (100%) as well as SVR after 12 weeks (100%). Thirty patients reported no adverse side effects whereas only nine suffered minor side effects. Conclusions In our cohort, SOF/LED therapy and SOF/DCV therapy were extremely safe and effective with 100% SVR and negligible short‐term side effects. IFN/RBV therapy was much less effective (SVR 57.1%) and accompanied with short‐term side effects. Fibrosis might stop and even regress with successful treatment.