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• Unusual presentation of hepatitis C
  Parvathi Mohan
  Published on: 5 March 2003
• Not necessarily perinatal transmission
  Deniz Gurtin
  Published on: 6 February 2003

• Published on: 5 March 2003

  Unusual presentation of hepatitis C

  • Parvathi Mohan, Physician
  • Other Contributors:
    • Washington DC , USA

  Dear Editor

  We wish to thank Dr Gurtin for her comments regarding the potential source of HCV infection in our patient. As we had stated, the source was speculated as perinatal after obtaining a history of maternal drug use prior to the patient's birth and the lack of risk factors for postnatal infection in the patient. However, the focus of our discussion was to highlight the unique presentation of acute jaund...

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  Dear Editor

  We wish to thank Dr Gurtin for her comments regarding the potential source of HCV infection in our patient. As we had stated, the source was speculated as perinatal after obtaining a history of maternal drug use prior to the patient's birth and the lack of risk factors for postnatal infection in the patient. However, the focus of our discussion was to highlight the unique presentation of acute jaundice with a negative HCV antibody screen, a positive HCV PCR and evidence of chronic aggressive liver disease on biopsy, rather than the source of infection. We have attempted to draw attention to the unusual presention of a chronic liver disease with negative screening tests and a positive histology, and the challenges in making an accurate diagnosis in the face of conflicting test results.

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  Conflict of Interest:
  None declared.

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• Published on: 6 February 2003

  Not necessarily perinatal transmission

  • Deniz Gurtin, Consultant Paediatrician

  Dear Editor

  You state in your article that "perinatal transmission was the most obvious source of HCV" in this 11 year old boy. Elsewhere in the article you put an argument that the mother was very unlikely to have received HCV infected blood transfusion during pregnancy. She had admitted to iv drug abuse which is implied as the probable cause of her HCV status, but there is no way of knowing whether this happened...

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  Dear Editor

  You state in your article that "perinatal transmission was the most obvious source of HCV" in this 11 year old boy. Elsewhere in the article you put an argument that the mother was very unlikely to have received HCV infected blood transfusion during pregnancy. She had admitted to iv drug abuse which is implied as the probable cause of her HCV status, but there is no way of knowing whether this happened before the birth of her son or during the last eleven years.

  I looked after two children of an IV drug abusing mother. Both were found to be HCV positive after presenting to different agencies at different times with an alleged history of needle stick injury. They have the same strain as the mother's virus and she was not a carrier at the time of births. Some other members of the family were also injecting drugs. We suspected but never proved that the exposure of the children was non- accidental and they were taken into care.

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  Conflict of Interest:
  None declared.

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