Leading article
Chronic viral hepatitis in children: any role for the pathologist?
1 Department of Diagnostic Sciences & Special Therapies, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
2 Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Clinica Medica 5, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
Correspondence to:
Dr Maria Guido, Istituto di Anatomia Patologica, Via Gabelli, 61, I-35131 Padova, Italy; mguido@unipd.it
Revised version received 7 January 2008
Accepted 12 February 2008
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
The child is father of the man (William Wordsworth)
Among human hepatitis viruses, hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) are able to persist in the host for years and principally contribute to the establishment of chronic hepatitis. A large number of people, worldwide, is still estimated to be infected with HBV and HCV: 370 and 130 million, respectively.1
In endemic areas, HBV infection is often acquired perinatally or early in childhood and becomes chronic in a high proportion of cases. Universal vaccination of newborns has been effective in reducing the spread of infection. However, hepatitis B is still a social–sanitary problem in undeveloped areas where immunisation policies are unavailable and in developed countries, where the reservoir of infection is maintained by immigration and adoption. In some endemic areas children with chronic hepatitis B are also at risk for superinfection with the hepatitis delta virus (HDV), which worsens the prognosis of
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