Few Children Vertically Co-Infected With HIV and HCV Are Treated for HCV and the Response Is Low: Presented at ESPID

LEIPZIG, Germany -- May 15, 2015 -- Approximately 20% of children vertically infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) had already developed liver fibrosis by the end of adolescence, according to findings presented during a Short Oral Presentation Session on May 14th at the 33rd Annual Meeting of the European Society of Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID).

“Rates of sustained viral response were very low in this small cohort, arousing the need of new therapeutic approaches for this population that may benefit from new drugs for HCV treatment,” said Talia Sainz-Costa, MD, Paediatrics, La Paz University Hospital, IdiPAZ Health Research Institute, Madrid, Spain, who noted the paucity of data regarding the natural history of children with vertical HIV/HCV co-infection and their response to anti-HCV treatment.

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Future Treatment May Be Best for Kids with Hepatitis C

The best time to treat children infected with the hepatitis C virus may be off in the future when newer, better drugs with fewer side effects are expected to be approved for pediatric populations, according to the authors of a recent article in Clinical Liver Disease.   

Hepatitis C is a bloodborne virus that over time if left unchecked can severely damage the liver. But for children who are chronically infected, progression to advanced liver disease during their childhood years is uncommon, says lead author Christine Lee, MD.  

A major milestone in the treatment of hepatitis C is the recent development of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) agents and combination drug regimens, Lee stated in the article. These developments are likely to similarly revolutionize treatment of the virus in children in the near future however clinical trials are still being conducted.


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