One caveat, this study design dose not address the question that really needs to be answered. Actually, that may not be the question, lets ask it with PEG-interferon alfa plus ribavirin. Of course, the downside longer therapy is more treatment related side effects. Induction therapy seems to achieve viral suppression more rapidly, especially among genotype 1 infected persons, but does not increase the overall sustained virologic response. This was only one of many studies presented that failed to show any benefit of induction therapy.
Induction therapy is associated with more side effects, particularly low white blood cell count.
Like I said, stick a fork in it. These investigators canvassed the entire German countryside to identify persons with acute HCV infection and found 44 persons with symptomatic acute HCV infection of less than 4 months duration. They reported that all patients achieved persistent undetectable HCV RNA results. To put it another way, no patient developed chronic HCV infection and all appeared to clear their acute infection. The practical implications are significant.