Journal
CURRENT THERAPEUTIC RESEARCH-CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL
Volume 68, Issue 4, Pages 271-277Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.curtheres.2007.08.006
Keywords
anosmia; pegylated interferon alfa-2a; ribavirin; hepatitis C virus
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Introduction: Anosmia, the loss of the sense of smell, is a rare adverse event associated with interferon alpha (INF-alpha). Millions of patients with hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are currently treated with INF-alfa-2a daily. Only 5 cases of anosmia have been reported in the literature, and none was associated with pegylated INF-alfa. Case summary: A 55-year-old Arab male (height, 5'1 ''; weight, 81 kg) with chronic HCV developed anosmia and ageusia (loss of the sense of taste) after 36 weeks of treatment for HCV with subcutaneous pegylated INF-alfa-2a 180 mu g and ribavirin 1200 mg. Treatment was continued for 12 additional weeks before being discontinued. Twenty-four weeks after treatment was discontinued, HCV-RNA was undetectable and, during the same visit, the patient reported that he had regained his sense of smell a few weeks previously. The Naranjo algorithm score was 7, representing a probable association of anosmia with INF-alfa-2a treatment. Other etiologies for loss of smell and taste were ruled out. Conclusions: We report a case of anosmia and ageusia in a patient treated with pegylated INF-alfa-2b and ribavirin for HCV infection. The patient regained his sense of smell and taste within 24 weeks of stopping treatment.
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