It is possible to obtain pregnant if you or your partner has hepatitis C. If you are a man with hepatitis C, and your female partner does not have liver disease C (throughout the whole pregnancy), then there is no chance that the baby will contract the virus from the mom.
If you are a pregnant woman who currently has liver disease C (or gets hepatitis C at some time during the pregnancy), the opportunity of passing the infection to your baby is low, less than 5 percent.
The risk becomes greater if the mother has both liver disease C and HIV. With correct prenatal care, babies born to hepatitis C-positive moms or daddies are typically rather healthy.
If you are pregnant and have hepatitis C, the chance of your baby being infected with liver disease C is the same whether your baby is born by vaginal delivery or c-section. With either technique of delivery, the opportunity is around 5%, which is extremely low.
Will the Baby Be Infected If the Mother or Father has Hepatitis C?
The baby’s risk of ending up being infected with liver disease C in the womb differs, depending upon whether the parent with liver disease C is the dad or the mom.
If the mother is infected, whether the father is infected, there is a 1 in 25 opportunity that the baby will be born with hepatitis C. The risk is the same regardless of whether the birth takes place by vaginal delivery or by cesarean area. The risk is greater if the mother is also HIV infected.
If the dad has liver disease C however the mother does not, the baby can not end up being infected due to the fact that a father can not pass the virus straight to a baby.
If the dad first passes the infection to the mother through sex, then the baby perhaps might be infected by the mom. Nevertheless, the opportunity of the virus being sent both from father to mom then from mother to baby is practically zero.
Evaluating for hepatitis C in a newborn should be carried out at 8-12 weeks of age. Around 1 in 5 infants will clear the infection with no medical help (don’t despair). For those who end up being chronically infected, the majority of have no symptoms (but their lab tests will show irregular liver enzymes).
Liver disease has the tendency to advance more slowly in children infected with liver disease C than in individuals who are infected with the infection later on in life. Children likewise react somewhat much better than adults to treatment.
Liver disease C and Pregnancy
Many women conceive during the years in between 20 and 40, which is likewise the age where the incidence of hepatitis C infection is increasing most quickly.
Any woman with risk factors for hepatitis C (such as exposure to transfusions, polluted needles, or injected drug use) should be screened for liver disease C prior to and during pregnancy.
The risk of a pregnant woman passing the liver disease C infection to her coming child has actually been related to the levels of quantitative RNA levels in her blood, as well as whether she is also HIV favorable.
The risk of transmission to the infant is less (0 to 18%) if the mom is HIV unfavorable and if she has no history of i.v. drug use or of blood transfusions.
Transmission of the infection to the fetus is greatest in women with hepatitis C RNA titer greater than 1 million copies/mL. Moms without liver disease C RNA levels spotted did not transmit liver disease C infection to their infants.
There is no preventive treatment at this time that can affect the rate of transmission of the virus from mom to infant.
A pregnant woman with hepatitis will have to be followed by an expert who can examine their liver function tests regularly.
Good luck! Have a nice weekend!
