[Epidemiology of hepatitis C].

Multiple studies have been made to determine the occurrence of infection with HCV after sexual contact and from the infected mothers to their newborn children. As far as sexual contact is concerned, it's clear that this route of transmission is possible. The most definite results show the homogeneity of HCV RNA in 99% of monogamous couples without previous use of intravenous drugs. As far as mother-newborn transmission is concerned, it has been proven that transmission is related to the mother's viral load. In those women with HCV RNA levels above 10(6) copies/ml, transmission was as high as 36%. Moreover, some reported studies with irrefutable data show that perinatal transmission is higher in mothers co-infected with human immunodeficiency virus. The precise transmission mechanism in both situations is still unknown.