here is how i understand it all:

there is a blood test for the gene iL28B. when you get the results it will be either: CC, CT or TT.

if you are CC, BOTH of your parents had ancestors who contracted one of the killer flu's and lived through it. so you're lucky! you come from a tough line of ancestors!

if you are CT, then ONE of your parents ancestors contracted a killer flu and lived through it.

if you are TT, then NEITHER of your parents had ancestors who contracted and lived through a killer flu. (guess your ancestors died when they got the killer flu?)

if you are CC then your body has the gene to fight virus's better than a person who is CT or TT.


this is my understanding of it and i'm not sure if it's correct? brigid, i'd also ask this on the main cause 'artyom,' 'greg' or 'mosrite' will know more than me.

@Q I sooooooooo enjoy reading something put in simplistic terms! I had never quite understood the iL28B jargon for the longest time...infact the main board is where I heard the term thrown around quite a lot and my pea brain didn't quite get it! Now I have a good understanding of it....I think when I go for my next bloodwork I will ask the Doc to test for this as well as VL etc, even without tx this is good to know. You might have a leg up with CC to even keep the virus at bay naturally.

Great info., thanks Q! I'm seeing my gastro next month, and I'm going to ask for the test as well. He's always pushing tx, but has never even mentioned this test. I wonder why?

the test was 'discovered' in switzerland a year ago...or so. well, they didn't discover the test. i guess they discovered the gene? and how to test for it.

BUT, even if you are TT you may clear the virus. so don't do treatment just because you are TT! i'd start it anyway. then, if you're not cleared by week 4 (or whatever week it is) THEN i'd consider stopping treatment. because if you do treatment and don't clear then the virus will only mutate into a stronger strain.

i mean, if i was TT i would still start treatment to see if i'd clear by the "cut-off date for clearing." if i wasn't clear by that date i wouldn't push it. BUT, if i was CC or even CT and was not clear by the cut-off date i would push the doctor to let me go a little long in treatment to see if i'd clear.

just my thoughts on it all.

sandy, he may not know about the test. or may have other thoughts on it all? we seem to get the info faster on here than some doctors do.

ask your doctor what he would do if this were him? that's what i always ask my doctor. "if this was YOU, what would YOU do?"

the reason to do treatment is because once you clear the virus you stop or significantly slow down the virus from doing damage in your liver AND your liver then begins to regenerate itself. we're so lucky in that we have contracted something that loves the liver...and the liver can regenerate itself! ha!

i'm quite positive i've had hep c for over 30 yrs. but my live damage is low according to the blood tests and the ultra sound. and i attribute this to having a healthy diet.

my grandfather and mother are health nuts. we grew up vegetarian and never, ever ate fast food. my mom made sure we ate tons of vegtables! and all this carried over with me when i left home. my diet consisted of lots of veggies, low protein, NO soda's ever. i never drank soda in high school either. and we ate very little sugar.

my diet has been the worst in the past 10 yrs for some reason? i started eating deserts...and more sugar.
but now, since treatment and being in this group i've stopped eating sugar again.

now i forget why i'm talking about all this? OH, cause i think that the reason i'm in pretty good health even though i had hep C for 30 yrs is due to my diet ! thanks mom and grandpa!

another note about diet and hep C:

i met a dude in his 50ies awhile back who has been vegan for 8 years. he said his body cleared the virus all on it's own! he attributes this to his being vegan he said. he still tests positive for the antibodies but negative for viral load. (he said he was a vegan for about 4 yrs before testing positive for hep C. and he knows he got hep C from a dirty needle as he was/is a heroin addict.)

so being vegan is the way to go!

boy, i'm quite the talker today! ha!

I wish I could stick to veganism, but I love dairy, and it's hard to substitute it (for me). I don't drink dairy milk, but I love yogurt, ice cream, cheese, and no substitutes have come close. It wasn't hard for me to give up meat, although there are times I still crave it and it's been 3 years since I've eaten meat (other than a bite here and there).

i know what you mean, sandy. i've stopped drinking milk but i do love cheese every now and then. and chicken soup! i buy the organic free range. haven't had a steak in a year or so. but i think we're doing great! we really are! sometimes i crave a hamburger! so i get the buffalo hamburger and it's wonderful!

Someone here in the group who has Hep C. Her husband who is in his 50's also had it, and cleared it spontaneously, He is NOT a vegan, he has adult onset diabetes and he loves his meat. He also has a temper, for what it's worth.

Point is, some people will clear no matter what they do or don't do, and some people won't clear, no matter what they do or don't do. And maybe, just maybe, that has to do with the TT, CC, CT thing! So that would be a good thing to know.

I think 1A is the hardest variant to treat, probably because it's the oldest, what do you think? It's had more time to set up defenses.

Quasar, Thank you for giving such a clear answer. I will ask for this test.
BTW, I have been vegetarian since age 12, an on and off vegan, and it didn't help me clear it either.

makiah, i've always heard 1A is the most difficult to treat because it's the oldest?

Genotype patterns

It is believed that theHhepatitis C virus has evolved over a period of several thousand years. This would explain the current general global patterns of genotypes and subtypes:

1a - mostly found in North & South America; also common in Australia
1b - mostly found in Europe and Asia.
2a - is the most common genotype 2 in Japan and China.
2b - is the most common genotype 2 in the U.S. and Northern Europe.
2c - the most common genotype 2 in Western and Southern Europe.
3a - highly prevalent here in Australia (40% of cases) and South Asia.
4a - highly prevalent in Egypt
4c - highly prevalent in Central Africa
5a - highly prevalent only in South Africa
6a - restricted to Hong Kong, Macau and Vietnam
7a and 7b - common in Thailand
8a, 8b & 9a - prevalent in Vietnam
10a & 11a - found in Indonesia

from: http://hepatitis-central.com/hcv/genotype/explained.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1472033/

the above link talk about : "These strains spread swiftly around the world during the 20th century, most likely through infected blood and blood products and injecting drug use, and have relatively low levels of genetic variation. In contrast, other HCV strains are highly divergent but are found in restricted geographic areas. These “endemic” strains reflect long-term transmission at low levels in particular populations (26, 30) and represent the source populations for the epidemic strains."

so i guess genotype 1A is tough cause it's has "low levels of genetic variation."