Figure 3. Anti-RR reactivity occurs at varying intervals after the beginning of treatment.

Samples from HCV patients were obtained at baseline, at successive months after beginning of treatment with interferon-α plus ribavirin, and 6–12 months after treatment discontinuation. (A) Anti-RR was absent in samples obtained at the beginning of treatment and there was a clear trend for increasing frequency in samples obtained along several time points during and after treatment; the frequency rate differed between the pre-treatment bleed and other time points, but not among the several bleeds after the beginning of treatment (p = 0.705). (B) The frequency of other IIF-HEp-2 patterns was equivalent in samples obtained before the beginning of treatment and in those obtained along and after the treatment (p = 0.727).