Research Article

Hepatitis A Seroprevalence in Patients who Admitted to Training and Research Hospital in Istanbul

10.4274/Vhd.02886

  • Özlem ALICI
  • Canan AĞALAR
  • Hanife Aydın YAZICILAR

Viral Hepat J 2013;19(3):110-114

Objective:

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is the etiologic agent of an enterically transmitted viral hepatitis associated with poor environmental hygienic conditions. HAV is endemic in developing countries including Turkey and most of the HAV infections occur during early childhood in such countries. There is an improvement in socio economic and hygienic conditions in our country, so we want to assess both the seroprevalence of antibodies to HAV and necessity of routine childhood vaccination against hepatitis A.

Materials and Methods:

The seroprevalence of HAV was determined in 795 subjects who were admitted to Istanbul Fatih Sultan Mehmet Training and Research Hospital for only a screening test between 2011 and 2012 years. Serum samples were tested for anti-HAV IgG by a commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assay technique.

Results:

Participants comprised 291 males and 504 females. The prevalence of antibody to HAV was 61% overall. Anti HAV Ig G seropositivity was 21% and 19% respectively in the 0-10 year age-group and 11-20 year age-group. The seropositive and negative rates were equal especially in the 21 to 30 year age-group, and seropositive rates increased from 30 years old and above.

Conclusion:

The results indicate that HAV transmission shifts to older age groups in our country, so possibility of symptomatic disease increases. In addition to better sanitation programmes, routine childhood vaccination of individuals can be a good strategy in terms of preventive medicine for our country. However, we suggest that cost effectiveness research needs to be done in later periods.

Keywords: Hepatitis A, seroprevalence, hepatitis A vaccine

Full Text (Turkish)