Role Of Nitazoxanide In Treatment Of Chronic Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C virus infection is a global public health issue, with approximately 170 million people infected worldwide. Pegylated interferon α in combination with weight based ribavirin is currently the standard of care treatment for chronic hepatitis C [Afdhal et al.,2011].Nitazoxanide, the first member of thiazolides anti-infective class of compounds, an observation during drug development revealed that some patients had a reduction in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level during therapy. This observation led to studies of the anti-viral activity of NTZ [Schiff, 2009].This study was a prospective, open label, randomized study conducted between August 2010 and July 2011 in Tropical Medicine Department, Zagazig University Hospitals and the regional treatment center for viral hepatitis in Sharkia Governorate, Egypt to study the impact of NTZ monotherapy and in addition to PEG-INF-α2a and RBV on virological responses in patients with CHC.The study showed that:1-Triple therapy with PEG-INF, RBV and NTZ doesn’t lead to statistically significant difference in virological response rates in comparison to the SOC.2- Monotherapy of CHC patients with NTZ causes temporal decrease in HCV RNA viral load in some patients.3- No adverse events attributable to NTZ with the exception of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and urine discoloration.