Fetus-Placenta-Newborn
Detection of hepatitis C virus antibodies and specific hepatitis C virus ribonucleic acid sequences in cord bloods from a heterogeneous prenatal population

https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9378(95)90623-1Get rights and content
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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to quantify the prevalence of at-risk pregnancies for maternal-fetal hepatitis C virus transmission in a heterogeneous prenatal population by detection of both hepatitis C virus-specific antibody and hepatitis C virus ribonucleic acid sequencesin cord bloods from their deliveries.

STUDY DESIGN: An anonymous serosurvey of 1432 consecutive umbilical cord blood samples were analyzed for hepatitis C virus antibodies with a second-generation enzyme immunoassay with all hepatitis C virus antibody-positive samples batched and analyzed for both human immunodeficiency virus antibodies and hepatitis C virus ribonucleic acid sequences by polymerase chain reaction.

RESULTS: Forty-seven of the samples (3.2%) were positive for hepatitis C virus antibodies; seropositivity rates differed significantly by socioeconomic status but not by race. Significantly more of the antibody-positive women underwent cesarean section for delivery (31.9% vs 21.9%, p = 0.03). Three (6.4%) hepatitis C virus antibody-positive samples were also human immunodeficiency virus-antibody positive, hepatitis C virus antibody-positive samples were also human immunodeficiency virus-antibody positive, whereas nine (19.1%) were hepatitis C virus ribonucleic acid positive.

CONCLUSION: As many as 19% of hepatitis C virus antibody-positive women in this study also had hepatitis C virus ribonucleic acid isolated from their delivery cord blood samples, which may indicate an increased risk of vertical hepatitis C virus transmission in those pregnancies. Hepatitis C virus-specific antibody and ribonucleic acid detection may also be markers for other pregnancy complications that results in higher rates of cesarean section for these women.

Keywords

Hepatitis C virus
cord blood
prenatal testing

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