Mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis C virus infection

The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among pregnant women in Europe is generally below 2%. Although women with a history of parenteral exposures or injecting drug use are at an increased risk of infection, a substantial proportion of infected women do not report any risk factors. Targeted screening is thus not recommended. The risk of mother-to-child, or vertical, transmission of HCV is about 5% overall but can be as high as 15%, depending on maternal HIV infection status and HCV RNA viral load. Larger studies are needed to confirm or refute the potential protective effect of elective cesarean section delivery. However, for HCV-positive women who are co-infected with HIV, elective cesarean section delivery is associated with a reduced risk of vertical transmission of HIV as well as HCV. The risk of postnatal transmission through breastfeeding cannot be excluded but is likely to be low for most HCV-infected women. The long-term natural history of vertically acquired HCV needs further elucidation and the efficacy of potential therapies for infected children need to be evaluated in randomized controlled trials. (C) 2002 Prous Science. All rights reserved.