A UNIQUE, PREDOMINANT HEPATITIS-C VIRUS VARIANT FOUND IN AN INFANT BORN TO A MOTHER WITH MULTIPLE VARIANTS

To demonstrate vertical transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) from a n HCV-infected, non-human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected mothe r to her infant and to assess the distribution of viral species in the mother and infant, the hypervariable region of the gene encoding the putative envelope glycoprotein E2 (E2HV) was sequenced in three mother s and one mother-infant pair. The data indicate that (i) quasispecies distributions of HCV E2HV variants were found in all four mothers, (ii ) a single predominant HCV E2HV variant was found in the infant of a m other shown to have nine predominant E2HV variants, and (iii) the infa nt's E2HV variant was highly related to, but not identical with, the n ine variants identified in the mother at the time of birth. These find ings indicate that HCV is transmitted from mother to infant and raise the possibility that the transmission occurs in utero.