HCV infection in a pregnant woman is a major risk for the baby, especially if the woman does not know about the infection, which is often the case. The work cited is a valuable study performed in Poland on a large group of 544 women of childbearing age. HCV infection was detected in 11, i.e. 2% of the study group. Only 1 of these women had prior knowledge of the infection. The majority of infections were most likely related to blood transfusions (24%), surgery (23%) and intravenous drug administration (15%).In 17% of the infected women, no risk factor for HCV infection could be demonstrated. The authors conclude that up to 2% of all young women in Poland may be chronically infected with HCV, and most infections at this age are still asymptomatic. This represents a major health risk for women and their children.