By Tim Bonfield
Enquirer staff writer

Some people with a double infection of HIV and the hepatitis C virus can be cured of their hepatitis without harming their HIV treatment, according to a study published Thursday and co-authored by a University of Cincinnati researcher.

The study appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, along with another closely related study and an editorial about the issue. UC's Dr. Kenneth Sherman was one of 14 co-authors.

The study reports that about 27 percent of patients who were treated with a combination of peg-interferon and ribavirin enjoyed "sustained virologic response" when tested six months after treatment. That means the treatment essentially has cured their hepatitis C infection, Sherman said.

This is important progress because liver disease has become the leading cause of death for Americans with HIV. Hepatitis C infections occur in 16 percent to 20 percent of the estimated 1 million people living with HIV in America, Sherman said. That means up to 200,000 people nationwide can benefit from this finding.

Hepatitis C can be contracted in a number of ways, including from unsafe sex, unsanitary needles used in drug abuse and tattooing, and old blood transfusions before testing was common. Most people with HIV and hepatitis haven't been getting any treatment for their hepatitis because previous medication combinations haven't proven effective. As a result, many dual-infected people die of liver disease.

"We've had patients with their HIV totally under control dying of end-stage liver disease," said Sherman, director of UC's division of digestive diseases and a longtime expert on hepatitis.

In rare cases, including two in Cincinnati, such patients have been successfully treated with liver transplants. Now, there appears to be a medical treatment that might reduce the need for such a procedure.

The study, which involved work at 21 medical centers, has far-reaching impact, federal health officials say.

"Just a decade ago, treatment of (hepatitis C) in persons with HIV was not a priority because they died from AIDS before developing serious complications of hepatitis C infection," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, one of the agencies that funded the study.

E-mail tbonfield@enquirer.com