are there any effective treatments for hep c other than ribavirin/interferon ?

Hi,

First I'd like to point out the difference between conventional and
alternative health care. Conventional health care such drug therapy
for Hepatitis C is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.
Currently the FDA reports that,

"The FDA has approved two different treatment regimens for chronic
hepatitis C: monotherapy (using a single drug, interferon) and
combination therapy (using two drugs, interferon and ribavirin)."

Here's the article
Hepatitus C: An Update )This article originally appeared in the
July-August 2001 FDA Consumer. The version below is from a reprint of
the original article and contains revisions made in December 2001.)
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2001/401_hepc.html

So, the conventional scientifically backed answer to your question is
"no" there are no scientifically proven treatments to hepatitis C
other than interferon and ribavirin.

However, there has been some research, not enough to satisy the
scientific community, regarding the use of various conventional and
alternative treatments for hepatitis C.

The federal government is currently supporting clinical research for
conventional durg therapies such as
Thymosin Plus PEG-Interferon
Gamma Interferon Therapy 
and others.

Here's a link to the clinical trials ongoing or seeking recruits.
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct/gui/action/FindCondition?ui=D006526&recruiting=true


Additionally there are a variety of studies looking into the use of
herbs such as Milk Thistle, Licorice Root and Ginseng to treat
hepatitis C and other liver problems. The authors of the study note
that only limited scientific research has been conducted in this area.
They define 'limited' as
"A small number of scientific studies have been done, but few have
been published in peer-reviewed journals. Some scientific information
may be available."

The article is entitled "Hepatitis C: Treatment Alternatives" and can
be found at
http://nccam.nih.gov/health/hepatitisc/index.htm

Finally, it's important to point out that there is both reliable and
unreliable medical information on the internet. I tried to provide
links to sources from only the most reliable and scientific sources
available. For more generalk and very reliable inforamtion on all the
aspects of Hepatitis C, I would recommend reading more of the articles
provided by the National Institute of Health
http://nccam.nih.gov/health/hepatitisc/index.htm

Search Strategies:
hepatitis C
hepatitis C, treatments
hepatitis C, drug therapy
hepatitis C, alternative treatments

2 therapies come to mind:

1.   Zadaxin therapy (thymosin alpha 1), it is possible that this
would be effective alone, although all the research being done in the
USA is for Zadaxin in addition to another therapy.

It is approved in some countries for Hepatitis C. For information see:
www.scicloneinternational.com

This product costs approx $130 - $150 per injection, and you need 2 a
week.

It is not available in the USA at present, other than in clinical
trials. IF you wish to obtain it from abroad, try the following
phamarmacist
Ted Scharf  tedscharf@hotmail.com


2.   Dr Bernard Bihari from NYC, has had great success with treating
Hepatitis C with a combination of Low Dose Naltrexone together with
Hypericin. For further details go to the following website 
www.lowdosenaltrexone.org

Once you are dealing with cirhhosis, various therapies are available
in Europe to reverse cirrhosis. Amongst these, injections of SAMe
(available in the US in tablet form), injections of glutathione (can
be made in the US by a compounding pharmacy), injections of
Alpha-Lipoic Acid (available in USA in oral form only)

Good luck!