Abstract

Among the viral infections affecting the liver in pregnancy Hepatitis C though uncommon now is recognized to be a serious global public health problem affecting 170 million people worldwide I e 3 of the population 1 The prevalence of anti-HCV antibody in pregnant women in developed countries ranges from 0 14 to 4 4 whereas the seroprevalence in Indian pregnant female population is 1 03 2 3 4 Following the decreasing transmission of HCV by blood -transfusion intravenous drug use has now become the primary route of new HCV infections in adults while mother to child transmission MTCT is the major route of new infections in young children in the developed as well as in developing countries 5 Approximately 7 8 of hepatitis C virus-positive women transmit this virus to their offspring 6 mainly because they are ignorant about this infection and unaware of their status The natural course of hepatitis C is a progression from acute hepatitis to chronic hepatitis which occurs in 55 -85 of patients