Hepatitis C: Screening in pregnancy

Hepatitis C virus infection, which is far more prevalent than human immunod eficiency virus (HIV)-1, can lead to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, h epatic failure, and death. Like HIV-1, hepatitis C is transmitted parentera lly, sexually, and from mother to infant. The American Academy of Pediatric s and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently recomme nded that all children born to women who are infected with hepatitis C viru s or have risk factors for infection be screened for hepatitis C. Most infe cted women are asymptomatic and unaware of their infection, so routine pren atal testing is needed to fully meet that goat We do not believe that curre nt data justify universal testing, but we believe it is time for all obstet ricians to test selectively based on risk factors. (Obstet Gynecol 1999;94: 1044-8. (C) 1999 by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist s.).