       Document 0126
 DOCN  M9470126
 TI    Incidence and morbidity of infection by hepatitis C virus in children
       with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
 DT    9409
 AU    Dibenedetto SP; Ragusa R; Sciacca A; Di Cataldo A; Miraglia V; D'Amico
       S; Lo Nigro L; Ippolito AM; Division of Paediatric Haematology-Oncology,
       University of; Catania, Italy.
 SO    Eur J Pediatr. 1994 Apr;153(4):271-5. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
       MED/94252360
 AB    A group of 90 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in first
       continuous complete remission (CCR), admitted in our hospital between
       January 1986 and September 1992, were tested for the presence of
       antibodies against hepatitis C virus (HCV), antibodies against hepatitis
       B virus and antibodies against HIV-1 during maintenance therapy or
       thereafter. They were compared with a group of 71 children with other
       malignancies in first CCR who had been diagnosed consecutively from
       January 1986 to September 1992. No patient with ALL or any other
       malignancy was found to be positive for hepatitis B surface antigen or
       HIV-1. HCV-specific antibodies were detected in 28 out of 87 children
       (32.1%) with ALL and in 4 out of 44 patients (9%) with malignancies
       other than ALL who had received at least one transfusion of blood or
       platelets (P < 0.01). HCV-specific antibodies were also detected in one
       out of three untransfused children with ALL but in none of the
       untransfused children with malignancies other than ALL. HCV-specific
       seropositivity influenced the management of children with ALL during
       maintenance therapy. In fact, as a result of abnormal liver function
       tests, maintenance therapy had to be suspended significantly more often
       in the case of HCV-seropositive patients with ALL than in
       HCV-seronegative ones. Despite the high morbidity during maintenance
       therapy, chronic liver disease (CLD) was uncommon in both groups: five
       children with ALL (17.2% of HCV-seropositive children) and one child
       with a malignancy other than ALL (25%) had CLD.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT
       250 WORDS)
 DE    Adolescence  Child  Child, Preschool  Chronic Disease  Hepatitis
       Antibodies/BLOOD  Hepatitis C/*EPIDEMIOLOGY/ETIOLOGY/IMMUNOLOGY  Human
       Incidence  Infant  Infant, Newborn  Leukemia, Lymphocytic,
       Acute/*COMPLICATIONS  Liver Diseases/ETIOLOGY  Liver Function Tests
       Support, Non-U.S. Gov't  JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).

