| Resume |
Background: Viral hepatitis C (HCV) is common in Benin. Untreated, it can
be complicated by cirrhosis and hepatocarcinoma, which are sources of death.
The objectives of this work were twofold: 1) to evaluate the effectiveness and
safety of treatment with classic dual interferon pegylated a lpha-2a (IFN) and
ribavirin t herapy i n B enin, a nd 2) t o p resent p roblems r elated t o fi nancial
accessibility to this treatment. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive
and analytical study, with a retrospective collection of data from November 1,
2010 to December 31, 2015 and prospective collection from January 1, 2016
to J uly 3 1, 2 016 ( 7 m onths).W e i ncluded a ll p atients t reated wi th IF N +
ribavirin fo r h epatitis C a t CN HU/HKM. S ustained vi rological r esponse
(SVR) w as d efined a s u ndetectable vi ral l oad C 6 months aft er st opping
treatment. Safety was appreciated by the search for clinical and hematological
adverse ef fects. Results: One h undred and si x patients w ere f ollowed f or
HCV, o f w hom 5 8 ( 54.7%) undergoing t reatment ( 26 u nder st andard d ual
therapy a nd 32 u nder d irect-acting antivirals). O f t he 2 6 patients under-
conventional dual therapy, 12 (46.1%) were genotype 1, 13 (50%) genotype 2
and one (3.9%) genotype 4 . In conventional dual therapy, SVR was achieved
in 15 (57.7%) patients, including the genotype 4 patient, 4 out of 12 (33.3%)
genotype 1 patients, and 10 out of 13 (76.9%) for genotype 2 patients. The
most common side effects with this treatment were severe asthenia (23 cases),
flu-like s ymptoms ( 22 c ases), w eight l oss ( 21 c ases) a nd n eutropenia ( 22
cases), ane mia and thrombocytopenia (20 o f 2 6 cases). T he overall c ost o f
treatment p er p atient w as 11,800,624 F CFA fo r g enotypes 1 a nd 4 ; and 7,835,048 F CFA f or g enotype 2. Conclusion: The t reatment o f HCV w ith
IFN + ribavirin in Benin is effective for genotype 2. But its adverse effects are
manifold and i ts c ost is hi gh. The s witch t o d irect-acting ant ivirals (more effective, better tolerated and less expensive) was therefore necessary. |