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Until relatively recently, treatment for chronic hepatitis C usually involved taking two main medicines: 

•pegylated interferon – a medication that encourages the immune system to attack the virus 

•ribavirin – an antiviral medication that stops the virus reproducing 

These medications were frequently just taken together, but nowadays they're often combined with a third medication, such as simeprevir or sofosbuvir. These are newer hepatitis C medications that have been shown to make treatment more effective.

In some cases, a combination of these newer medications may be taken without needing to take pegylated interferon and/or ribavirin as well. Read more about all these medications below.

Pegylated interferon is usually taken as a weekly injection. You can be trained to inject yourself at home. It usually needs to be taken for up to 48 weeks, depending on your circumstances.

Ribavirin is available as capsules, tablets or an oral solution. It's normally taken twice a day with food. It needs to be taken alongside pegylated interferon for up to 48 weeks.

There are also a number of newer medicines that are often used to treat hepatitis C nowadays.

Some of these are taking alongside pegylated interferon and/or ribavirin, while some can be taken on their own or in combination with other new medicines.

These medications include:

•simeprevir 

•sofosbuvir 

•daclatasvir 

•a combination of ledipasvir and sofosbuvir 

•a combination of ombitasvir, paritaprevir and ritonavir, taken with or without dasabuvir 

These medications are taken as tablets once or twice a day, for between eight and 48 weeks, depending on the exact medicine you're taking, your hepatitis C genotype and the severity of your condition.

These medicines are generally used to treat people with either genotype 1 or genotype 4 hepatitis C, although sometimes they're also used to treat people with other genotypes.

For more information, see the NICE guidelines on:

•simeprevir for treating chronic hepatitis C 

•sofosbuvir for treating chronic hepatitis C 

•daclatasvir for treating chronic hepatitis C 

•ledipasvir-sofosbuvir for treating chronic hepatitis C 

•ombitasvir-paritaprevir-ritonavir with or without dasabuvir for treating chronic hepatitis C 

Research into even more effective medications is ongoing.

The effectiveness of treatment for hepatitis C can depend on the strain of the virus you have.

Genotype 1 used to be more challenging to treat and, until quite recently, less than half of people treated would be cured. 

However, with the newer medications now available, the chances of a cure can be much higher. Combinations of tablets can now have a cure rate of more than 90%.

This is higher than the chances of curing most other hepatitis C genotypes.

Treatment for genotype 3 will usually involve the standard treatments of pegylated interferon and ribavirin. About 70-80% of those treated will be cured.

If the virus is successfully cleared with treatment, it's important to be aware that you're not immune to the infection. This means, for example, that you could become infected again if you continue to inject drugs after treatment.

If treatment doesn't work, it may be repeated, extended or tried using a different combination of medicines.