Question:

Last month I came into the hospital after developing extreme fatigue and pain in the liver. I had been diagnosed with HIV for 13 years and with chronic hepatitis B for a few years. Fisrt, it was thought the symptoms were due to the uncontrolled hep b, but then they discovered coinfection with hep c. I went straight on the treatment interferon plus rifabirin.

Now I do have a few questions please.

First, does the therapy also work against hep b besides the hep c?

When i went into hospital, after a few days my right testicule shrank and decontracted upwards. It was and still is very painful. I had been given a course of antibiotics for 3 weeks, which didnt seem to help, but I had not been given any explanation as to why this has happened. Do you have any idea or advice on where to go or what to do?

Answer provided by:

Donna Sweet, M.D., MACP
Professor of Internal Medicine
University of Kansas School of Medicine - Wichita

Therapy for Hepatitis C does not work for Hepatitis B. Are you on therapy for HIV? There are 3 good drugs that cover both Hepatitis B and HIV. One should be on 2 of these plus either an NNRTI or PI to cover both.

In regard to your second question regarding the testicular problem, you need to go for a urology evaluation to address this issue. Without an evaluation, I would not be able to venture a reason as to why this happened and a urologist could best address this problem.

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