Remote abscess formation during interferon-α therapy for viral hepatitis

Abstract

Abscess formation at the injection site is an unusual infectious complication of interferon-α (IFN-α) treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, but remote abscess formation during IFN-α therapy is very rare. In the present communication, we report three cases of remote abscess formation detected among 68 patients with chronic viral hepatitis treated with IFN-α, and review the pertinent English literature. We believe that, as fever and constitutional symptoms are common side effects of IFN-α treatment, a high index of suspicion is indicated to exclude abscess formation in cases of unexplained fever during IFN-α therapy.