Chronic hepatitis C virus infection - a disease in waiting?

Article Abstract:

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections comprise most cases of non-A, non-B hepatitis, but little is known about the natural history of this infection. HCV is transmitted mainly by contaminated blood, but, like hepatitis A, there are known community-acquired cases. A recent study found that chronic hepatitis frequently developed among patients with acute non-A, non-B infection but that these patients had a low risk for cirrhosis and liver failure at least in the short term. Perhaps more significantly, HCV infection persisted even long after the initial illness was resolved. Another study of patients who had received blood transfusions compared the frequency of death between patients who developed non-A, non-B hepatitis and those who did not and found no significant differences. Death from liver disease, however, was higher among patients with acute non-A, non-B infection than among non-infected subjects. Further studies on the long-term illnesses and deaths associated with HCV infection are needed.

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Prevalence and clinical outcome of hepatitis C infection in children who underwent cardiac surgery before the implementation of blood-donor screening

Article Abstract:

-Hepatitis C infection can be cleared completely or may be a relatively mild disease in many people. Researchers studied 458 people who had had heart surgery as children before blood transfusions were routinely screened for the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Fifteen percent of those who had surgery tested positive for exposure to HCV, compared to 0.7% of 458 other volunteers who did not have heart surgery. About half of the 67 HCV-positive people who had surgery had eliminated the virus within an average of 19 years after the operation. Only one had liver disease and only 3 had signs of severe liver damage.

Health aspects, Surgery, Blood transfusion

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Hepatitis C infection in children

Article Abstract:

Children who have been exposed to the hepatitis C virus (HCV) should be followed for the rest of their lives. Now that donated blood is tested for HCV, this is most likely to happen by pregnant women transmitting the virus to their children during childbirth. In a study of 458 children who had contracted HCV from a blood transfusion many years before, about 45% were able to eliminate the virus completely. Among those who could not, only one had elevated liver enzymes, an early sign of liver damage. However, serious liver disease could occur 30 or 40 years later.

Pediatric diseases, Children, Diseases

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