HEPATITIS C VIRUS PREVALENCE IN PEDIATRIC NON-HODGKIN LYMPHOMA

Abstract

The relationship between HCV infection and lymphoproliferative diseases was first reported by Ferri et at in 1994 and was subsequently highlighted by other authors, with the prevalence of HCV infection ranging from 9 - 42%.

We conducted this study to determine the prevalence of HCV infection in children with NHL in Mansoura University children Hospital. Eighty three subjects were enrolled in our study in two groups; Cases group of 46 NHL cases and control group of 37 cases. Then, sample of each subject tested for anti-HCV antibody by HCV third generation enzyme-linked immunoassay (EIA 3.0) and Samples were then tested for HCV RNA by direct nested reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) aiming to determine HCV prevalence among these subjects, a positive result by the direct RT-PCR method was considered truly positive, and no further investigation was done. A sample that was negative by both direct RT-PCR and EIA 3.0 was considered negative.