Paediatric Virology and its interaction between basic science and clinical practice (Review)

Mammas, Ioannis N.; Greenough, Anne; Theodoridou, Maria; Kramvis, Anna; Rusan, Maria; Melidou, Angeliki; Korovessi, Paraskevi; Papaioannou, Georgia; Papatheodoropoulou, Alexia; Koutsaftiki, Chryssie; Liston, Maria; Sourvinos, George; Spandidos, Demetrios A.

infections with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are responsible for 90% of all hepatitis mortalities globally, with an estimated 257 million individuals infected with HBV and another 71 million with HCV (28) . As 90% of infants infected with HBV at birth will become chronic carriers, motherto-child transmission (MTcT) is responsible for 35-50% of the chronic HBV infections (29) , which can develop into severe liver disease including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cirrhosis. Compared to horizontal transmission, MTCT can increase the risk of the development of HCC (30) . MTCT of HBV occurs mostly during birth and more rarely in utero or post-natally. The risk is increased in HBeAg-positive mothers compared to HBeAg-negative mothers. There are also geographical differences in the risk of MTCT of HBV, being higher in Asia than in Africa (31) . MTCT of HCV occurs at a rate of 5% and is the major cause of paediatric HCV infection (32) .