Prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in a cohort of pregnant women in northern Greece and transmission of HCV from mother to child.

The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and the mother-to-child transmission of HCV were studied in 2408 pregnant women. Positive antiHCV were detected in 47 women (1.95%), 21 of whom (44.

Interferon-alpha 2b treatment of chronic hepatitis C in haemodialysis patients.

Nineteen haemodialysis (HD) patients with chronic hepatitis C were treated with interferon-alpha 2b (IFN-alpha) at a dose of 3 or 1 MU thrice weekly for 6 months and were followed-up for another 14 months without treatment. Six patients discontinued treatment because they either presented severe side-effects to IFN-alpha or had complications of their primary disease. Levels of AST and ALT were within normal limits on the 2nd month of treatment and remained so throughout the treatment and the follow-up period in all patients except one who showed an elevation of transaminase levels 2 months after the end of treatment.