LONG-TERM CLINICAL AND VIROLOGICAL OUTCOME OF PRIMARY HEPATITIS-C VIRUS-INFECTION IN CHILDREN - A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY

To investigate the long term natural course of primary hepatitis C vir us infection in children from the beginning, we prospectively followed up 88 children at risk because of frequent blood transfusions or of h epatitis C virus infection from the mother. Ten of the 88 children con tracted primary infection during follow-up. In the acute stage of inf ection acute hepatitis with elevation of aminotransferases and a posit ive IgM antibody was found in both children infected during open heart surgery, 3 of the 5 multiply transfused children with congenital hemo lytic anemia and none of the 3 infants infected by their mothers. Four of the 10 children later lost hepatitis C virus RNA, whereas 6 had a chronic course. Three of the latter 6 children had abnormal aminotrans ferase activities in the chronic phase. Our study suggests that the ve ry young age of primary infection and the underlying status of the hos t may affect the clinical course of hepatitis C virus infection in chi ldren.