title: A prospective study of vertical transmission of hepatitis C virus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To prospectively study the mechanism of mother to infant transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV).
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a nested PCR for detection of HCV RNA and the second generation ELISA for detection of anti-HCV, 13 pregnant women who suffered from post transfusion hepatitis C (PT-HCV) and their 15 babies were studied to evaluate mother to infant transmission of HCV.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The total infection rate of HCV was 86.7% in the babies, including one case of clinical HCV (7.7%), three subclinical cases of HCV (23.1%), and nine inapparent cases of HCV (69.2%). The positive rates of anti-HCV and HCV RNA declined with the age of the babies, to 7.7% for anti-HCV and 15.4% for HCV RNA at the age of three years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Babies born to mothers infected with HCV were vertically infected with HCV at a high rate, but the consequences were not serious. Four fetuses born, born through induced labor to mothers positive for anti-HCV and HCV, were all infected by HCV, suggesting that the mother to infant transmission of HCV mainly occurred in the uterus.
authors.affiliation: De-Gui Sun, Cai-Yun Liu, Shu-Cong Wang, Yu-Qi Yang, Guan County Sanitary and Antiepidemic Station, Guan County 065500, Hebei Province, China.
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: De-Gui Sun, Cai-Yun Liu, Shu-Cong Wang, Yu-Qi Yang, Guan County Sanitary and Antiepidemic Station, Guan County 065500, Hebei Province, China.
authors.forename: C Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: De-Gui Sun, Cai-Yun Liu, Shu-Cong Wang, Yu-Qi Yang, Guan County Sanitary and Antiepidemic Station, Guan County 065500, Hebei Province, China.
authors.forename: Z D
authors.initials: ZD
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: De-Gui Sun, Cai-Yun Liu, Shu-Cong Wang, Yu-Qi Yang, Guan County Sanitary and Antiepidemic Station, Guan County 065500, Hebei Province, China.
authors.forename: Y D
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: De-Gui Sun, Cai-Yun Liu, Shu-Cong Wang, Yu-Qi Yang, Guan County Sanitary and Antiepidemic Station, Guan County 065500, Hebei Province, China.
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: De-Gui Sun, Cai-Yun Liu, Shu-Cong Wang, Yu-Qi Yang, Guan County Sanitary and Antiepidemic Station, Guan County 065500, Hebei Province, China.
authors.forename: Y Q
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: De-Gui Sun, Cai-Yun Liu, Shu-Cong Wang, Yu-Qi Yang, Guan County Sanitary and Antiepidemic Station, Guan County 065500, Hebei Province, China.
authors.forename: Z L
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: De-Gui Sun, Cai-Yun Liu, Shu-Cong Wang, Yu-Qi Yang, Guan County Sanitary and Antiepidemic Station, Guan County 065500, Hebei Province, China.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhuang
keywords: Disease transmission; Hepatitis C virus; RNA; Vertical; Viral