An Outbreak of Hepatitis A among Young Adult Men in Cyprus

Abstract

Background: Outbreaks of acute hepatitis A (AHA) have recently been reported in Europe among men who have sex with men (MSM). The aim of this work was to evaluate, for the first time, trends in the reported cases of AHA in Cyprus over the last seven years. Methods: We retrospectively studied all people reported with AHA in Cyprus between January 2013 and December 2019. Demographic data, type of transmission, vaccination status for HAV, laboratory and clinical data were analyzed. Results: The asnalysis involved 33 AHA cases (age 32.7 ± 17.4 years, 78.8% males). An increase in AHA reports was observed between July 2017 and June 2018 when more than a third (n = 13) of the cases of the period 2013–2019 were reported. The reporting rate of AHA doubled from 0.52 cases per 100,000 population (before July 2017) to 1.12 cases per 100,000 population (July 2017–June 2018). The male/female (M/F) ratio increased from one in 2013 to eight in 2018. Conclusion: An increase in AHA reports occurred in Cyprus between July 2017 and June 2018. Many cases with AHA in that period were MSM. Enhanced surveillance and timely public health interventions, like vaccination and awareness promotion, are important for preventing future outbreaks.

Hepatitis A Outbreak in Men Who Have Sex with Men Using Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and People Living with HIV in Croatia, January to October 2022

“…The European outbreak of hepatitis A during 2017/2018 was reported from a number of countries. The increase in HAV cases was observed mostly among younger MSM ( Table 3 ) [ 4 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. In a study from the Netherlands among MSM visiting the Sexually Transmitted Infection Clinic in Amsterdam, HAV seropositivity determinants in a multivariable analysis were older ( p < 0.001), came from an HAV endemic country ( p < 0.001) and were HBV seropositive ( p = 0.001) [ 35 ].…”

The Transformations of Greek Working-Class Fiction from the Interwar Period to the Present

“…47 In its most accentuated form, this tendency pushes realism to its limits, as is the case with the first two works of Sotiris Dimitriou. 48 In these works, a disturbing naturalism is employed to depict nightmarish stories or raw instinct across the lower social strata (street cleaners, prostitutes, drug addicts etc.) 49 Within Dimitriou's amoral and bleak universe, the working-class characters seem to lie beyond good and evil, or at the very least to renegotiate the boundaries between the two, occupying an in-between position between wilful subject and object of instinctual and social coercion.…”