role of hepatitis C virus in chronic liver disease of infants and children

ABSTRACT

Hepatitis C virus [HCV] has been increasingly recognized in patients with chronic liver disease [CLD] specially in adults where HCV antibody positivity has been reported to range between 70-80%. It is aimed in this work to identify the role of HCV in Egyptian children with chronic liver disease and its epidemiological, biochemical and histological features through studying a group of ninety one infants and children suffering from CLD. Their ages ranged between 6 months- 18 years [mean 7.75 +/- 4.3 yrs], 43 of them were females and 48 were males. HCV antibody was detected in 10.98% of the patients, HBsAg was positive in another 10.98%. None of the patients was positive for both HCV antibody and HBsAg. The patients were divided into three groups according to their serology; [group 1] HCV antibody positive [10 cases], [group 2] HBsAg positive [10 cases], [group 3] HCV antibody and HBsAg negative [71 cases]. Comparing the three groups has revealed no statistically significant difference between them in age, sex, residence, liver size, spleen size, serum bilirubin, alanine amino-transferase [ALT], aspartate aminotransferase [AST], serum albumin nor prothrombin time [PT]. On the other hand, a history of blood transfusion, surgical intervention or contact with a case of HCV within the family was statistically significant in group 1. There was also a statistically significant difference between group 1 and 3 in the symptomatology of patients [P <0.05] and the hepatic histopathology [P <0.01], group 1 patients being mostly asymptomatic and having chronic lobular hepatitis. Detailed clinical, laboratory, serological and histological description of the HCV antibody positive cases is included