Liver diseases in pregnancy - Liver diseases coincidental with but not induced by pregnancy - part - 3

Acute viral hepatitis and other viral infections :
Hepatitis C:

Characterestics:
Hepatitis C Older name: Non A non B hepatitis
Virus type: RNA
Virus size: 30 -60nm
Incubation period: 30 to 160 days Transmission : Parentral sporadic
Vertical transmission to fetus: uncommon
Serologic diagnosis: Hepatitis C antibody, RNA by PCR
Maximum infectivity : HIV co- infected
Carrier state: 50 -85%
Acute clinical forms: Asymtomatic to severe relapsing
Chronic clinical forms: Chronic persistent hepatitis, Chronic active hepatitis, Cirrhosis
The rate of vertical transmission of hepatitis C is less than 5%.
The risk is higher if:
1.The mother is co-infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
2. She is viremic at the time of delivery
3. Her viral DNA load is greater than 1 million copies/ml
4. The time from the rupture of membranes to delivery is more than 6 hours.
The mode of delivery does not seem to influence the rate of transmission from mother to child. Breast feeding is not considered a risk factor for transmission. Newborns of infected mothers should be tested at 12 to 18 months of age, when IgG antibodies to hepatitis C virus that may have passively transferred from the placenta to the fetus would have been lost, and the persistence of hepatitis C viral RNA would indicate infection with hepatitis C. Interferon is in FDA category C, and ribavirin is in category X.
Both drugs are contraindicated in pregnancy.