Liver cirrhosis associated with chronic hepatitis B virus infection in childhood

Bortolotti, Flavia; Calzia, R; Cadrobbi, P; Giacchini, Roberta; Ciravegna, B; Armigliato, M; Piscopo, R; Realdi, Giuseppe

doi:10.1016/s0022-3476(86)80987-8

Cited by 106 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…As has been reported in previous studies [1,2], chronic heptitis due to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in childhood may de velop into cirrhosis and hepatoma. In adults with chronic heptitis B, several antiviral drugs have been administered for the treat ment of this disease.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 74%

A Controlled Trial of Recombinant Interferon-Alpha in Caucasian Children with Chronic Hepatitis B

et al. 1990

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Twenty-four children with chronic active hepatitis due to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, who were positive for HB_eAg and had increased levels of transaminases, were included in a controlled study of treatment using recombinant interferon-α (rIFN-α), 10 MU/m2 body surface, intramuscularly, 3 times a week over a period of 3 months. During therapy, a significant decrease in HBV-DNAp was observed in the 12 patients treated. By the end of therapy, the HBV-DNA had disappeared in 3 children, the same occurring in 1 child (33 % overall) during the course of the 4th month. By this time, all the controls remained with HBV replication markers (p < 0.05). The 4 treated patients who responded became HB_eAg-negative, developing anti-HBe during the first 12 months after therapy. In the control group, the HBV-DNA disappeared in 3 children in the 7th month of follow-up. All of the children remained HB_sAg-positive. The therapy with rIFN-α was well tolerated, secondary effects consisting of a flu-like syndrome and a slight decrease in leukocytes and platelets. At the second biopsy, 15 months after the beginning of therapy, a significant decrease in Knodell’s index of histological activity was observed in the responders. In the light of these results and since treated children lost viral replication markers in a shorter period of time than the controls, who seroconverted spontaneously, we consider that rIFN-α may be useful in the treatment of chronic heptitis B in childhood.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 74%

A Controlled Trial of Recombinant Interferon-Alpha in Caucasian Children with Chronic Hepatitis B

et al. 1990

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“…14 As vertical infection is responsible for majority of infections it may be sufficient to screen all the pregnant women and immunize the high-risk infants. High risk strategy involves screening all the pregnant females for HBsAg and immunizing infants of only those mothers who are positive for it.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Study on the Perinatal Transmission of the Hepatitis B Virus

Chakravarti¹,

Rawat²,

Jain³

2005

Indian J Med Microbiol

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The purpose of this study was to determine the age wise prevalence of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) in children under five years and to analyze the relative importance of horizontal or vertical transmission. This study included 400 children in the age group of less than five years attending the outpatient department of pediatrics with minor complaints. History of HBV immunization was taken as the exclusion criteria. All the samples were tested for Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti HBs using commercial ELISA kits. Liver function tests were performed on all the HBsAg positive patients. Hepatits B nucleocapsid antigen (HBeAg) was detected in few HBsAg positive mothers. Overall HBsAg positivity in children below five years was 2.25%. There was no statistically significant difference in HBsAg positivity in the different age groups by chi square test. HBsAg positivity in mothers was 4.25%. However only in three cases the pair of mother and child were both positive for HBsAg. The mean anti HBs positivity in children was 23.75%. There was no statistically significant difference in the anti HBs positivity in different age groups of children. The observation that there is no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of HBV infection (HBsAg and HBs) amongst different age groups of children below five years signifies that a large proportion of HBV infection in children of this age is acquired via vertical transmission. It is also indicated that this mode of disease transmission is responsible for the majority of chronic carriers. Universal immunization of all infants is desirable to decrease the carrier pool and it is inferred from the present study that Hepatitis B immunization should begin at birth to have greater impact.

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“…Chronic hepatitis B in childhood is in most cases a mild disease [1,2,19]; in fact, all the children in our study were symptomless and often HBV infection was discovered by chance during familial screening or before a minor surgical procedure. The lack of clinical features increases the likelihood of the infection spreading in familial contacts of HBsAg-positive subjects, as shown by the high prevalence of HBV infection in the families studied.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Chronicity rate of hepatitis B virus infection in the families of 60 hepatitis B surface antigen positive chronic carrier children: Role of horizontal transmission

et al. 1992

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It is known that the 5%-10% of adults infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) develop a chronic infection and that HBV infection acquired at birth by an hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)/hepatitis B "e" antigen (HBeAg)-positive mother almost invariably leads to chronic infection. Little information is, however, available about the risk of HBV infection acquired in childhood becoming chronic. We have, therefore, studied the chronicity rate of HBV infection in the families of 60 consecutive HBsAg-positive chronic carrier children. Of parents 81.5% and 78.6% of children showed serological evidence of past or ongoing HBV infection. The chronicity rate was significantly higher among children (73.4%) than parents (35.6%). Such a high chronicity rate in these children was not correlated with vertical transmission, since this was reported in only 1.7% of them. It is noteworthy that the chronicity rate of HBV infection was not significantly different between children of HBsAg-positive mothers and those in whom infection must have been horizontally transmitted because their mothers were HBsAg-negative. Although the families studied represent a selected sample and the role of genetic factors could not be excluded, our results seem to show that the most important factor in determining the outcome of infection is the acquisition of hepatitis B during childhood.

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Liver cirrhosis associated with chronic hepatitis B virus infection in childhood

Cited by 106 publications

References 14 publications

A Controlled Trial of Recombinant Interferon-Alpha in Caucasian Children with Chronic Hepatitis B

A Controlled Trial of Recombinant Interferon-Alpha in Caucasian Children with Chronic Hepatitis B

A Study on the Perinatal Transmission of the Hepatitis B Virus

Chronicity rate of hepatitis B virus infection in the families of 60 hepatitis B surface antigen positive chronic carrier children: Role of horizontal transmission

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