Dr. Chinitz incorrectly summarizes the results of our study of a 1-year course of ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C. Ribavirin had no effect on circulating hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA levels, the most direct measure of viral replication in this disease. This is in contrast to lamivudine, which in patients with chronic hepatitis B induces dramatic decreases in hepatitis B virus DNA levels within a few weeks. Ribavirin therapy was associated with markedly improved serum aminotransferase levels in one third of patients, but almost all patients had relapse once therapy was discontinued. We believe that these results support our conclusion that ribavirin alone given for periods as long as 12 months is unlikely to be of value as therapy for chronic hepatitis C. In the last two paragraphs of our Discussion section, we state that ribavirin might still have a role in therapy for this disease, either in combination with interferon- (an approach now being evaluated in a large, multicenter, multicountry, randomized, controlled trial) or given alone as continuous maintenance therapy. Both approaches need to be shown to be safe and effective before ribavirin is approved for use and made, generally available as therapy for this important liver disease.