ATLANTA -- Gregg Allman, a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band, has canceled several concert dates to continue treatments for hepatitis C.

Founding drummer Butch Trucks believes his longtime friend will make a full recovery from the potentially fatal liver disease. The 60-year-old Allman began treatments of interferon six months ago.

Trucks said the band has canceled appearances in Florida next month and bowed out of its annual run of shows at Manhattan's Beacon Theatre in May.

Trucks said Friday, "Gregg's going to be great. He's just really tired right now and needs lots of rest. We've known for several years that he had the virus, even though Gregg keeps things like that pretty close to the vest. But what encourages all of us is that the statistics of overcoming hepatitis are very good if you see the treatment through."

Allman, who is resting at his home in Savannah, undergoes weekly injections of Interferon, a medication that battles hepatitis but has side effects that can cause nausea and exhaustion.

Allman said in a statement Thursday, "I'm getting better but I'm still tired. I need to be at 110 percent to do the shows the way we do them. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the support and understanding my brothers and our fans have given me."

If untreated, hepatitis C can lead to liver cancer, liver failure or cirrhosis, but the Mayo Clinic reports that 80 percent of infected carriers show no symptoms of the disease. The clinic also states that unlike hepatitis B, the immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, hepatitis C is not spread by sexual contact but rather by drug users who share needles or through blood transfusions.

Trucks indicated that Allman, a notorious substance abuser in the 1970s, '80s and early '90s, has been sober since the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 13 years ago.