There is no treatment to date against hepatitis E, responsible for acute or chronic inflammation of the liver.
In its most severe form, it can be fatal for the elderly, pregnant women and people who already have liver disease. There has been very little hope in this area.
However, in an article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers say that ribavirin has been effective in two people who suffer from hepatitis E.
Ribavirin is used to treat respiratory viral infections in children, hemorrhagic fevers as well as hepatitis C. Two participants received treatment with this drug. After two weeks, their liver was back functioning to normal. After four weeks, the virus was undetectable. In addition, three and six months after treatment, the liver was still going strong and the hepatitis E virus remained undetectable.
Researchers remain cautious for the moment but refuse to talk about a full recovery because of a lack of data. But this finding does represent hope and clinical trials will soon be conducted to validate the results.
Hepatitis E is the leading cause of viral hepatitis in the world and it is estimated that one-third of the world population has been infected by the disease.