IMPORTANCE OF SEXUAL TRANSMISSION OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS IN SEROPOSITIVE PREGNANT-WOMEN - A CASE-CONTROL STUDY

The mode of hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission in patients who deny parenteral exposure is still not understood. Seroprevalence studies of anti-HCV in sexually promiscuous populations and in spouses of infect ed patients have given contradictory results. We investigated the role of sexual transmission of HCV in a case-control study of risk factors for infection in a series of 43 anti-HCV positive pregnant women and 172 matched controls (4 for each case). In the univariate analysis, th e following factors were associated significantly with anti-HCV seropo sitivity: low social class, unmarried, history of abortion, wounds whi ch were sutured, tattooes, sharing toiletries with the partner, sexual contact outside the partnership without condom use, blood transfusion , and intravenous drug abuse, but only the last 3 factors remained sig nificantly associated with HCV infection in multiple logistic regressi on analysis. The relative risk of HCV infection increased according to the increased number of sexual partners. Thus sexual transmission mus t be considered a possible mode of infection in HCV infected persons w ithout parenteral exposures. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.