Prevalence of hepatitis-C antibody seropositivity in healthy Egyptian children and four high risk groups.

We studied the prevalence of HCV antibody seropositivity and serum alanine concentrations in a random sample of healthy Egyptian children (n = 110) as well as in four high risk groups of children. Group 1 included 18 children with thalassemia major, group 2 included 17 children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), group 3 included 21 children with schistosomal hepatic fibrosis (SHF), and group 4 included 20 children with chronic rheumatic heart disease (RHD). The prevalence rate of HCV seropositivity was 12 per cent in normal children, 44 per cent in thalassemic children, 29 per cent in children with IDDM, 38 per cent in children with SHF and 0 per cent in patients with RHD. The liver size was significantly larger in HCV seropositive normal children as well as in HCV seropositive children with thalassemia and SHF compared to the seronegative children in each group respectively (P < 0.05). In all groups serum alanine transferase concentrations were significantly higher in HCV seropositive v. seronegative children. This pointed out to the high risk of continuous parenchymal hepatic damage in these children following acute HCV infection. In summary, our data revealed a relatively high prevalence of HCV antibody seropositivity in healthy Egyptian children compared to reports from other countries, and a significantly high prevalence of HCV seropositivity in children with thalassemia, IDDM, and SHF which carries a considerably high risk for development of chronic liver disease in these patients.