Managing HCV infection in pediatric age group: suggested recommendations.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in children is different from the adult infection in many ways, like natural course of the disease; duration, therapeutic response and side effects profile of the drug therapy; and prognosis. Special considerations include consideration on what could be the appropriate time to investigate a suspected child, when to institute drug therapy and how to prevent vertical transmission. Although over the past one decade many landmark studies have greatly increased our insight on this subject, yet we are far from developing a consensus statement. In this article, a concise yet comprehensive review of HCV infection in children - diagnosis and treatment - is given, followed by suggested recommendations at the end. It is hoped that these recommendations will help develop local guidelines on this subject.
Danish
Fazal A
FA
Princess of Wales Hospital, Coity Road, Bridgend, CF31 1RQ, United Kingdom.
Koul
Salman S
SS
Subhani
Fazal R
FR
Rabbani
Ahmed E
AE
Yasmin
Saeeda
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001706:Biopsy; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018450:Disease Progression; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012307:Risk Factors
D000998:Antiviral Agents