Open Journal of Gastroenterology, 2022, 12, 55-63 https://www.scirp.org/journal/ojgas ISSN Online: 2163-9469 ISSN Print: 2163-9450 DOI: 10.4236/ojgas.2022.123006 Mar. 15, 2022 55 Open Journal of Gastroenterology Chronic Viral Hepatitis C: Before and after Direct Acting Antivirals (DAA) in Morocco Hakima Abid 1,2,3 , Maryam Khayari 1,2,3 , Hajar Cherkaoui 1,2,3 , Maria Lahlali 1,2,3 , Nada Lahmidani 1 , Mounia Elyousfi 1,2,3 , Nourdin Aqodad 4,5 , Sidi Adil Ibrahimi 1,2,3 , Mohamed El Abkari 1,2,3 1 Hepato-Gastroenterology Unit, University Hospital Hassan II, Fez, Morocco 2 Laboratory of Human Pathology, Biomedicine and Environment, Fez, Morocco 3 Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco 4 Hepato-Gastroenterology Unit, University Hospital Ibn Zohr, Agadir, Morocco 5 Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco Abstract For a long time, a combination of interferon and ribavirin has been used to treat viral hepatitis C, but the sustained virological response was only achieved in 45% of cases and side effects were serious [1]. Direct acting antivirals (DAA) have provided a cure for almost everyone with hepatitis C, with few side effects. The Purpose of Our Work is to compare the results of treatment for viral hepatitis C before and after DAA. Patients and Methods: This is a retrospective study, bringing together all patients with chronic viral hepatitis C treated between January 2009 and March 2020 at the University Hospital Hassan II in Fez, Morocco. The epidemiological, clinical, biological, virologi- cal characteristics of the included patients were collected from the two groups: A, treated with interferon and ribavirin or by triple therapy and B, treated with DAA. Results: 162 patients were included, the average age was 55 y/o, with 90 women and 72 men. 88 patients (54.3%) were already cirrhot- ic, of which 61 were compensated and 27 were decompensated. Genotype 1 was dominant with a frequency of 71.6%, 107 patients (66%) initially treated with old HCV treatments and 55 (34%) treated with DAA. Sustained viral response was obtained in 59 cases (55.14%) in group A versus 54 cases (98.18%) in group B with a very significant difference (p < 0.0001). Treatment failure was observed in 14 patients (13.1%) in group A and only one patient, i.e. 2% in group B (p = 0.019). 14 patients relapsed in group A (13.1%) versus 0 patient in group B (p = 0.003). The tolerance of the treatment was excellent in group B as a whole with only five patients (9%) reported side effects which were minor, not leading to the discontinuation of treatment while the side ef- fects were major in 49 patients (45.7%) in group A with led to the permanent discontinuation of treatment in 6 patients. The difference in side effects be- How to cite this paper: Abid, H., Khayari, M., Cherkaoui, H., Lahlali, M., Lahmidani, N., Elyousfi, M., Aqodad, N., Ibrahimi, S.A. and El Abkari, M. (2022) Chronic Viral Hepatitis C: Before and after Direct Acting Antivirals (DAA) in Morocco. Open Jour- nal of Gastroenterology, 12, 55-63. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojgas.2022.123006 Received: August 25, 2021 Accepted: March 12, 2022 Published: March 15, 2022 Copyright © 2022 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access