title: Vertical transmission of hepatitis C virus in low-risk pregnant women.
abstract: To assess the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in pregnant women and the rate of vertical transmission in infected mothers belonging to a low-risk group, 1,388 women were tested for HCV antibody at delivery. Twenty-five anti-HCV-positive women with no apparent source of HCV exposure were recruited. A reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and a new quantitative branched DNA-based signal amplification assay (bDNA) were used to detect HCV RNA. The rate of anti-HCV positivity in pregnant women was 2.5% (36 of 1,388). Of the 25 cohort mothers, 18 (72%) were positive for HCV RNA by RT-PCR, 13 of whom were also positive by the bDNA assay (sensitivity 72.2%). Of the 25 infants of low-risk mothers tested at birth, 22 were anti-HCV positive, two were weakly reactive, one was negative, and none was viremic. Neither active humoral immunoresponse nor HCV RNA was detected in any of the infants over a period of 12 months. These data suggest a relatively high prevalence of anti-HCV in unselected pregnant women and a poor efficiency of vertical transmission of HCV in a low-risk population, irrespective of the viral burden of the mother-to-be.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, Udine Medical School and University Hospital, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pipan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Amici
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Astori
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Ceci
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Botta
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001483:Base Sequence; D015331:Cohort Studies; D017931:DNA Primers; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000151:congenital / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000635:transmission*; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007112:Immunity, Maternally-Acquired / Q000276:immunology; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D012698:Serologic Tests
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D012367:RNA, Viral