Hepatitis in children with thalassemia major.

Since thalassemia major patients are transfusion dependent, they are at a particularly high risk of contracting post-transfusion hepatitis. In this study, 36 transfusion-dependent children were followed up for evidence of viral hepatitis. Of 23 with increased ALT levels, 17 were anti-CMV and 12 were anti-HCV positive, 9 were positive for both CMV and HCV. Of 13 children with normal transaminase levels, 5 were CMV positive and 3 were HCV positive. These results show that CMV may be a very common cause of non-A, non-B hepatitis in transfusion dependent thalassemic children.