Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Pregnant Women and its Vertical Transmission in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Abstract. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among pregnant women and the possibility of its transmission through the vertical route and through breast-feeding. Blood samples were collected from 300 pregnant women at the perinatal period and at delivery from the cord blood of their newborns, and from other 300 randomly selected breast-fed infants. Serum transaminases, anti-HCV Ab and HCV-RNA by PCR for only those with positive anti-HCV Ab were investigated. Results revealed that 9 (3%) mothers were positive for anti-HCV Ab and 8 (2.7%) were positive for HCV-RNA (viral load was below 5,000 copies / ml). However, only 5 newborns of HCV-RNA positive mothers showed positive results in (1.6%) for anti-HCV Ab, while all of them were negative by HCV-RNA. Meanwhile, all of the breast-fed infants were negative for anti-HCV Ab. Thus, this study could not reveal HCV transmission from mother to infant during the period of observation, yet a vertical transmission of HCV Ab was noticed. It is felt that it is not necessary to advise against breast-feeding prevention by mothers with HCV infection as long as there is no nipple cracking or bleeding.