Treatment of acute non-A, non-B hepatitis with interferon alpha-2b

Because of the antiviral action of interferon alpha and its beneficial effects in chronic NANB/C hepatitis, we assessed the safety and possible efficacy of recombinant human interferon alpha-2b (IFN) in preventing the development of chronic hepatitis in a controlled study of 24 adults (8 males, 16 females) with acute NANB/C hepatitis. Preliminary data show that a short course of low-dose IFN appears to be well tolerated even in jaundiced patients with acute NANB/C hepatitis; this reconfirms our previous findings in patients with acute hepatitis B. Furthermore, this treatment appears to have a chronic hepatitis in anti-HCV negative cases. A higher dose of IFN for a longer time may improve these results. A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial is justified to elucidate these discrepant results.