Long-term outcome (35 years) of hepatitis C after acquisition of infection through mini transfusions of blood given at birth
✍ Scribed by Maria Antonietta Casiraghi; Massimo De Paschale; Luisa Romanò; Renato Biffi; Agnese Assi; Giorgio Binelli; Alessandro Remo Zanetti
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2004
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 122 KB
- Volume
- 39
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0270-9139
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Long
-term follow up studies of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection rarely exceed 20 -25 yr. We studied the outcome of HCV infection in 35-yr-old adults infected at birth (1968) through mini transfusions of blood. A retrospective-prospective study was carried out. The cohort included 31 individuals who were given mini blood transfusions (21-30 ml) collected from a donor subsequently revealed to be HCV infected. At enrollment (1998), 18 of 31 (58.1%) recipients had anti-HCV antibody and 16 (88.9%) of them were HCV-RNA positive. All viremic recipients and the infectious donor had the same genotype 1b. Sequence analysis of E1/E2 and NS5b regions, coupled with phylogenetic analysis, indicated that HCV isolates from donor/recipients were linked. Eleven of the 16 viremic recipients gave consent to liver biopsy. Nine had no fibrosis or mild portal fibrosis and 2 had either discrete (Ishak's staging 3) or marked (Ishak's staging 4) fibrosis. During the prospective follow-up period (1998 -2003), 2 patients were given therapy, one of whom achieved sustained clinical and virologic response. A second biopsy, performed in 5 patients at a 5 yr interval, revealed no substantial modifications in 4 cases and progression from absence of fibrosis to mild portal fibrosis in the fifth. In conclusion, taking into account the limited study sample, these findings suggest that HCV infection acquired early in life shows a slow progression and mild outcome during the first 35 yr of infection. (HEPATOLOGY 2004;39:90 -96.)
V iral hepatitis type C has a high probability of evolving towards chronicity with a variable outcome over time. Different outcomes seem to be linked to the route of transmission, age at infection, and, possibly, to sex. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Infections encountered in adulthood carry a significantly higher probability of advancing to cirrhosis within 20 yr than those acquired by young individuals. 4,10 -18 Co-infections and comorbid conditions, which usually increase with age, may also be important contributors to the progression of hepatitis C infection. 19 -22 The understanding of the natural history of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is hampered by the fact that primary infection is often asymptomatic, thus preventing a precise definition of the time of acquisition. In addition, disease progression may extend over several decades while most published prospective and retrospective studies rarely exceed 20 yr of follow-up.
During the 1960s in Italy, mini transfusions of blood or plasma represented a frequent treatment of underweight or preterm newborns. We previously postulated that these could represent a major source for HCV infections diagnosed today in Italian adults with a negative history of HCV exposure and no record of transfusions. 23 The identification of a cohort of 35-yr-old adults who acquired HCV infection shortly after birth through transfusion provides insight into the long-term outcome of HCV infection.
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