Epidemiological surveys show that there are nearly 40 million hepatitis C antibody-positive infected people in China, with an average infection rate of 3.2 per cent. According to data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of new hepatitis C patients in China has risen from more than 20,000 in 2003 to nearly 60,000 in 2005 each year. Timely treatment of hepatitis C is a serious progressive disease. After being infected with hepatitis C virus, patients without obvious symptoms account for 75% to 80%, and the rate of chronicity of the disease is very high. If patients do not receive timely treatment, after about 20 years, the general population develops cirrhosis at a rate of 10% to 15%. Although it is not too late for regular treatment at this time, the scarred and enlarged liver is difficult to recover, increasing the difficulty of treatment, and some of them even develop into liver cancer. Professor Xu Daozhen, a member of the Hepatitis Prevention and Control Expert Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Anti-Viral Health, pointed out that some patients think that it is good if the transaminase is normal, so they blindly take hepatoprotective and enzyme-lowering drugs. But the hepatitis C virus is still attacking the liver and inflammation has been progressing, which may eventually lead to liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. China’s Hepatitis C Prevention and Treatment Guidelines clearly state that antiviral treatment is the key. Only by removing or continuously suppressing the hepatitis C virus in the body can liver damage be improved or reduced, preventing the disease from progressing to cirrhosis and reducing the likelihood of liver failure and liver cancer. Despite the insidious symptoms and aggressive prognosis of Hepatitis C, timely and effective antiviral treatment has a good chance of restoring the patient’s health. International treatment guidelines recognize that interferon, especially PEG interferon combined with ribavirin, is the first priority for hepatitis C treatment. China’s hepatitis C treatment guidelines say that the efficacy (durable response rate) of PEG interferon is twice as high as that of regular interferon, and PEG interferon entered Beijing’s medical insurance at the end of 2004, and is recommended for appropriate patients. Paroxetine is the earliest approved PEG interferon in China, with rich experience in clinical application, and the therapeutic efficacy rate reached 61% with the combination of Paroxetine and Ribavirin regimen.