• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.91-95
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• 2005

The familial environment may also play an important role in the epidemiology of HCV infection through vertical and horizontal transmission by infected household members. However, it is still controversial whether familial clustering of HCV occurs. We experienced a case of familial clustering of hepatitis C virus. A 10-year old girl presented with nausea, vomiting and anorexia for a month was diagnosed as hepatitis C. Her mother, grandmother, a maternal aunt and her daughter had contracted with HCV. Her laboratory findings showed AST/ALT 63/122 IU/L, positive anti-HCV Ab and HCV RNA ($3.54{\times}10^5copies/mL$). Pathologic findings of the liver biopsy revealed chronic hepatitis with minimal lobular activity, mild porto-periportal activity and mild portal fibrosis. After treatment with interferon-${\alpha}$ 2b for 6 months, the clinical symptoms and laboratory findings were normalized.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.sup2
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• pp.352-355
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• 2001

The authors report two cases of familial hemifacial spasm according to the clinical and three dimensional shortrange magnetic resonance angiography(3D-SRMRA) findings. In the family of the first case, there were five patient's with acquired hemifacial spasm in successive generations. Three male and two female patients in successive generations of the same family developed acquired hemifacial spasm. Four patients were on the left side and one was on the right side. In the family of the second case, there were three patient's with acquired hemifacial spasm in successive generations. Two brothers developed left-sided hemifacial spasm. 3D-SRMRA finding of the probands demonstrated that both anterior inferior cerebellar artery in first case and anterior inferior cerebellar artery & vertebral artery in second case offend the 7th cranial nerve respectively. The presence of familial clustering of these rare disorders suggest an underlying genetic predisposition. All family pedigrees suggest that a pattern of autosomal-dominant inheritance with partial penetrance.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.323-333
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• 2000

Objectives : Chronic HBsAg carriers are the principal source of infection for other susceptible people, and are themselves at high risk of developing serious liver diseases. In Korea, it has been estimated that 65-75% of the HBsAg positives remained as persistent carriers. Additionally, familial clustering of MBV infection has frequently been observed among carriers. Some would become progressive, chronic hepatitis patients, and others would not. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between various factors, such as the duration of infection, type of virus, mutation of precore/core region in HBV, major histocompatibility class-I, and developing chronic liver diseases among familial HBV carriers. Methods : Chronic carrier status was identified by repeated serological tests for HBsAg at intervals of six months or more. A familial chronic carrier was defined when the disease was observed in a family member over two generations. Two families were recruited, among which a total of 20 chronic HBsAg carriers(11 carriers in No.1, and 9 in No.2 family) were identified. Data on the general characteristics and liver disease status were collected. Identification of the HBV-DNA was successful only for 13 subjects among the 20 carriers. Analysis of viral DNA in terms of subtype, pre-core and core region mutations was carried out. The type of major histocompatibility class-1 for the 13 subjects was also analysed. Results & Conclusions : Seven of 10 chronic HBV carriers of the 1st generation and one of 10 of the 2nd generation were clinical patients with chronic hepatitis, the others, three of the 1 st and nine of the 2nd generation, were asymptomatic carriers. This data indicates that the duration of HBV carriage is one of the major factors for disease severity. The subtype of HBsAg analysed using MBV-DNA identified in 13 carriers were adr, and the pattern of precore nonsense mutation in HBV-DNA was identical among family members, which meads that the same virus strains were transmitted between the family members. The association between the precore or core mutations in HBV-DNA and the disease severity was not observed. While it was suggested that a specific type of MHC class-I may be related to disease progression.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.129-136
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• 1992

To evaluate the possible route of intrafamilial transmission among carriers of hepatitis B surface antigen ($HB_sAg$), epidemiologic and serologic data were obtained on 107 household contacts of 35 carriers of HBsAg and on 71 household contacts of 25 controls who were negative for serologic markers of hepatitis B virus. The HBsAg prevalence was 26.5% among the contacts of carriers compared to 0.0% among the contacts of controls. And the combined prevalence for all hepatitis markers was 48.5% among the contacts of carriers compared to 26.0% among the contacts of controls(p<0.05). Especially the offspring of carriers showed significantly higher risk in the combined prevalence for all hepatitis markers (p<0.05). There were no significant relationship between HBV infection and past history like acupuncture, transfusion, operation and tattooed. Factors associated with the risk of intrafamilial transmission of HBV were not found in the sharing of household articles such as razor, towel, drinking glass, nail clippers, toothbrush and tableware.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.180-185
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• 2004

Recently, we experienced two advanced gastric cancer (AGC) patients younger than 17 years of age. The first case was a 15-year, 2-month-old male who had suffered from epigastric soreness for 5 weeks. His grandfather died of gastric cancer at 39 years of age. Under the diagnosis of AGC, he underwent a total gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection. There was no evidence of distant metastasis. Pathologic examination revealed a 4.5$\times$4 cm, signet ring cell adenocarcinoma with subserosal invasion and with metastasis in 9 of 42 regional lymph nodes (T2bN2M0). The second case was a 17-year, 11-month-old male who had suffered from epigastric pain for 2 years without familial clustering. Under the diagnosis of AGC, he underwent a distal subtotal gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection. There was no evidence of distant metastasis. Pathologic examination revealed a 3$\times$2 cm, signet ring cell adenocarcinoma with subserosal invasion and with metastasis in 9 of 45 regional lymph nodes (T2bN2M0). The two patients have been alive without recurrence for 27 months and 4 months, respectively. Even among teenagers, patients with abdominal complaints should be subjected to a thorough examination of the gastrointestinal tract.