Abstract
To study the incidence and the clinical course of mother-to-infant transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV), we prospectively studied infants born to HCV-infected mothers. We studied 20 infants (including 2 pairs of siblings) born to 18 HCV antibody-positive and HCV-RNA-positive mothers without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The infants were serially examined as to alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, anti-HCV, and HCV-RNA for 1–40 months (mean follow-up, 20 months). HCV-RNA was persistent in one infant who developed chronic transaminase elevation and remained persistently anti-HCV positive for about 3 years. In 6 infants, transient ALT elevation was found, but HCV-RNA was not detected. All infants but one lost anti-HCV antibodies within 12 months. These results indicate that mother-to-infant transmission of HCV occurs, but the rate is less than 10%. It is suggested that the transmission rate for HCV is less than hepatitis B virus.
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© 1994 Springer-Verlag Tokyo
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Nagata, I. et al. (1994). Prospective Study of Mother-to-infant Transmission of Hepatitis C Virus. In: Nishioka, K., Suzuki, H., Mishiro, S., Oda, T. (eds) Viral Hepatitis and Liver Disease. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-68255-4_119
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-68255-4_119
Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo
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