Seroepidemiology of hepatitis A in voluntary blood donors from Pune, western India (2002 and 2004–2005)

Abstract

Recently, a changing pattern of hepatitis A epidemiology has been reported in the Indian population indicating a rise in the rate of hepatitis A infection among adults. The study's objective was to assess anti-HAV prevalence in voluntary blood donors from middle and high socioeconomic strata. Serum samples collected from voluntary blood donors from Pune city and its suburbs in the years 2002 and 2004-2005 were tested for anti-HAV IgG antibodies. Serum samples collected during 2004-2005 were examined for anti-HAV IgM antibodies. Positive samples were tested for HAV-RNA. Agewise anti-HAV positivity was significantly low in adults aged 18-25 years (90.4%) compared to those aged >25 years (97.4%) (P<0.01). A decline in anti-HAV prevalence was significant in 2004-2005 compared to that in 2002 (96.5% vs. 92.1%) (P<0.01). Overall, in both adult age groups, the proportion of anti-HAV positivity was remarkably low in the high socioeconomic group (HSG) (88.96%) compared to that of the middle socioeconomic group (MSG) (95.86%) (P<0.01). Anti-HAV IgM positivity was not significant (~1%), however, presence of HAV-RNA in one of the samples indicated the possibility of horizontal transmission of HAV. Increase in seronegativity to HAV in HSG implicates a rise in the susceptible pool and indicates the need for vaccination against hepatitis A.

A study of Hepatitis A and E virus seropositivity profile amongst young healthy adults in India

“…27 This level of immunity among large proportion of healthy young adults suggests an asymptomatic exposure to HAV. Based on the findings of this study, no epidemiological transition in epidemiology of HAV seems to be taking place.…”

“…25 Our results are also similar to a cross sectional population based study (85.9%) in the age group of 16e25 years. 26 Seropositivity rates of around 90% were found in a study conducted on voluntary blood donors aged 18e25 years from city and suburbs of Pune 27 and in a population based cross sectional study in Mumbai in age group of 11e30 years. 28 However, seroprevalence findings of our study are in contrast to the findings of 54.1% in age group of 15e24 years among healthy outpatients of a hospital in New Delhi 8 and 62.6% among medical students of New Delhi in age group of 18e22 years.…”

Clinical features and predictors of outcome in acute hepatitis A and hepatitis E virus hepatitis on cirrhosis

“…The presence of acute HAV infection among our patients indicates the need for further studies (45). This observation may be explained by recent seroepidemiological studies in India, suggesting a change in the epidemiological pattern towards intermediate endemicity (46–48).…”

Hepatitis a seroprevalence in children and young adults in Istanbul, Turkey: seroprevalence change and associated factors

“…In all age-specific seroprevalence studies, it has been noted that prevalence increases with age, most likely due to close contact within a school setting [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. However, seropositivity developed earlier in children attending nursery [27,28].…”