Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection continues to be a major national public health problem and is targeted for domestic and global elimination. Driven by the ongoing opioid epidemic, HCV incidence has been rising in the US over the last decade with highest infection rates among young adults including women of childbearing age.1 This is significant because if these young adults with HCV viremia get pregnant, their infants are perinatally exposed to the virus. In 2020 as part of a strategy to increase testing of all adults, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended universal HCV antibody screening with every pregnancy, a critical first step to improve maternal health and enhance identification of infants at risk for HCV.2 With a 3-8% risk, perinatal transmission is still the most common route of HCV infection among children and an increasing number of infants have been infected over recent years.3 Most infants with HCV infection are asymptomatic, so the diagnosis depends on subsequent testing of perinatally exposed infants to rule out infection. Historically, it was recommended that all infants with HCV exposure be screened for anti-HCV antibodies at ≥18 months. With this prior recommendation, numerous studies consistently demonstrated that 75-90% of exposed infants were never tested or linked to care.4,5 The reasons for this poor test rate are multifactorial, but a recommendation to wait 18 months in a population who often has many complicated social factors certainly was a major factor.4,5.

中文翻译：

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对患有围产期丙型肝炎暴露的婴儿进行早期筛查：消除丙型肝炎的关键一步。

丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染仍然是一个主要的国家公共卫生问题，是国内和全球消除的目标。在持续的阿片类药物流行的推动下，美国的丙型肝炎病毒发病率在过去十年中不断上升，其中包括育龄妇女在内的年轻人感染率最高。1这一点意义重大，因为如果这些患有丙型肝炎病毒血症的年轻人怀孕，他们的婴儿就会受到感染。围产期接触病毒。2020 年，作为增加对所有成年人进行检测的战略的一部分，美国疾病控制与预防中心 (CDC) 建议在每次怀孕时进行全面的 HCV 抗体筛查，这是改善孕产妇健康和加强对有 HCV 风险的婴儿的识别的关键的第一步.2 围产期传播的风险为 3-8%，仍然是儿童 HCV 感染最常见的途径，近年来感染 HCV 的婴儿数量不断增加。3 大多数 HCV 感染婴儿无症状，因此诊断取决于随后对围产期暴露的婴儿进行检测以排除感染。历史上，建议所有接触过 HCV 的婴儿在 18 个月以上时进行抗 HCV 抗体筛查。根据这一先前的建议，大量研究一致证明，75-90% 的暴露婴儿从未接受过检测或与护理相关。4,5 检测率低的原因是多因素的，但建议在经常接触病毒的人群中等待 18 个月。有许多复杂的社会因素肯定是一个主要因素。4、5．