Hepatitis in children with thalassemia major.
Since thalassemia major patients are transfusion dependent, they are at a particularly high risk of contracting post-transfusion hepatitis. In this study, 36 transfusion-dependent children were followed up for evidence of viral hepatitis. Of 23 with increased ALT levels, 17 were anti-CMV and 12 were anti-HCV positive, 9 were positive for both CMV and HCV. Of 13 children with normal transaminase levels, 5 were CMV positive and 3 were HCV positive. These results show that CMV may be a very common cause of non-A, non-B hepatitis in transfusion dependent thalassemic children.
D000293:Adolescent; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000276:immunology; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000276:immunology; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000276:immunology; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000209:etiology*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D065227:Transfusion Reaction; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000150:complications*
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies