Molecular evidence of mother-to-infant transmission of hepatitis C by quasispecies analysis

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been associated with intravenous drug abuse and the administration of blood products; many lower infections are associated with sexual and mother-to-infant transmission. The vertical tran smission of HCV from mother to infants is strongly debated [1], The risk of this transmission is correlated with the titer of HCV RNA in the mothers [ 2]. Most RNA viruses exhibit enormous genomic diversity and this heterogene ity is a consequence of high error rates in RNA replication, which is refer red to as of a quasispecies (QS) nature [3]. In this study, we reported an exceptional case of vertical transmission of HCV from a mother to her four children and assessed the molecular analysis of the E2/NS1 region of the ge nome. The QS mixtures in this family were assessed by sequencing the hyperv ariable region of the E2/NS1 (HVR1) for several clones from each of the HCV -infected family members.