Idiopathic hepatic copper toxicosis in a child.

A 10-year-old Italian boy with chronic liver disease and copper overload is described. Biological and histopathological findings are similar to those described in children with Indian childhood cirrhosis. This report suggests that a disease akin to Indian childhood cirrhosis but different from Wilson disease can be found in non-Indian children probably representing a new, possibly inherited, disease of copper metabolism leading to copper overload in the liver.