Hepatitis C virus Infection in Children

Abstract

Abstract: Hipatitis C virus (HCV) fwas first labelled  non A non B hipatitis virus associated with blood Transfusion in 1975.  It was not  until 1989 that the viral genome was eloned,  sequenced and thereafter named Hipatitis  C virus. It is the third hepatotropin virus of public health important, affecting more than 175 milion people worldwide. It is a single-strand RNA virus approximately 3.6 kb. In children, vertical transmission is the most prevalence mode of transmission and is said to occur  in 0 to 36 percent of infants born to various mothere, with the highest rates  occuring in mother who are co-infected with HIV. The tread of pathological features in the liver comprises portal aggregates of monocular cells, steatosis, bile duct  Epithelial cell damage. A ITCV Infection is rare largely because it is clinically inapparent and therefore goes unrecognised. The diagnos of HCV infection is based on the detection of antibodies to HCV artigents of  the detection of viral RNA. Although pegylated infection  ribovilin are  widely use in the treatment of HCV infection, their efficacy is still far from being universally  accepted.  Infection in early childhood is associated with long sequele in adulthood and for this reason,  there has been an explosion of studies in adults and not so much in children. This paper review the existing krowledge on the clinical features, natural history in nepothogenesis and treatment of TICV infection in children.