Chronic hepatitis C is the most common infectious disease among injection drug users (IDUs). Because of the allegedly poor compliance of IDUs with treatment requirements and conditions, hepatologists recommend treatment only if former IDUs have spent 6 to 12 months drug free. The aim of this prospective study was to investigate whether opiate-dependent IDUs with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) ...

The safety and efficacy of intralesionally administered interferon alfa-2b were assessed in 11 patients suffering from condylomata acuminata for four to 10 months for whom application of podophyllum resin had proved unsuccessful. Three warts from each patient were injected with 10(6) IU interferon alfa-2b three times a week for three weeks. Treatment was followed by a 13 week observation period...

Interferon alfa was measured by an immunoradiometric assay in the nasopharyngeal secretions of a group of infants admitted to hospital with respiratory syncytial virus infection. Virus replication in the upper respiratory tract was assessed by infectivity assay and by an enzyme linked immunoadsorbent assay for the viral fusion protein on the same nasopharyngeal secretions. All infants were exam...

Pretreatment variables that could predict the response of chronic hepatitis C to interferon alfa treatment have not been fully assessed. Eighteen baseline variables were evaluated in a series of 100 consecutive patients treated with a 12 month course of interferon alfa. For the purposes of this study, response was defined as the return to normal of aminotransferase activities before the third m...

BACKGROUND Antiretroviral therapy (ART)-mediated immune reconstitution fails to restore the capacity of the immune system to spontaneously control human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication. METHODS A total of 23 HIV type 1 (HIV-1)-infected, virologically suppressed subjects receiving ART (CD4(+) T-cell count, >450 cells/μL) were randomly assigned to have 180 μg/week (for arm A) or 90 μg/...

Multicenter randomized trials have shown that once-weekly pegylated interferon (peginterferon) alfa-2a is more efficacious than conventional interferon alfa-2a (IFN) in patients with chronic hepatitis C. We performed a meta-analysis of 1,013 previously untreated patients (from 3 randomized trials) with pretreatment and post-treatment liver biopsies to assess the differences between peginterfero...

IMPORTANCE Conjunctival papilloma is a benign epithelial tumor occurring in both children and adults with varying clinical features and outcomes. In this article, we describe our experience regarding the difference in the clinical features and outcomes of conjunctival papilloma based on age at initial examination. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical features, treatment, and outcomes in patient...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of topical interferon alfa-2b in the management of ocular surface squamous neoplasia (OSSN). METHODS Clinically visible OSSN in 20 patients (23 tumors) was managed with topical interferon alfa-2b, 1 million IU/mL, 4 times daily. Tumor control and complications were evaluated according to American Joint Committee on Cancer classification. RESULTS Complete t...

The author poses the question “Why did these study results not lead to a global consensus about interferon treatment as standard of care?” The answer is quite simple: The E1684 adjuvant high-dose interferon (hdifn) trial, while initially positive, was later shown to be negative. Remarkably, in spite of a p value of 0.09, the principal investigator still interpreted the trial as positive 1. Canc...