A Person to Person Hepatitis A Outbreak

Greco, Donato; Giacomi, Gaia De; Piersante, G P; Bibby, L; Nicastro, M; Cavalcanti, P

doi:10.1093/ije/15.1.108

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…During hepatitis E outbreaks, intrafamilial transmission is uncommon, with secondary attack rates among household contacts below 3% [1–3]. In contrast, such transmission occurs in 50–75% of susceptible household contacts of patients with hepatitis A [11,12]. However, the low secondary clinical attack rate in HEV in the previous studies may have been because of one or both of the following reasons: (a) household contacts had subclinical HEV infection and did not develop any symptoms, and (b) household contacts of patients with acute hepatitis E had antibodies against HEV and hence were not susceptible to this infection [13].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A serological study of intrafamilial spread from patients with sporadic hepatitis E virus infection

Somani¹,

Aggarwal²,

Naik³

et al. 2003

Journal of Viral Hepatitis

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Intrafamilial transmission is rare in epidemic hepatitis E; its frequency in sporadic hepatitis E is not known. We followed up 86 household contacts (age range 4-75 years, mean +/- SD 32.4 +/- 15.8; 49 males), who were family members of patients with acute sporadic hepatitis E. Of the 86 contacts, 68 (79%) tested negative for IgG anti-hepatitis E virus antibodies. Four (4.7%) had IgM anti-hepatitis E virus antibodies at the time of diagnosis of hepatitis E in the index case; two of these contacts possibly had hepatitis E virus infection acquired simultaneously with that in the index case, and two could have had intrafamilial transmission. None developed serological evidence of hepatitis E virus infection over a period of 49 +/- 18 days after the diagnosis of index case, although a majority lacked IgG antibodies to hepatitis E virus and were likely to be susceptible. This suggests that person-to-person transmission is uncommon in sporadic hepatitis E.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A serological study of intrafamilial spread from patients with sporadic hepatitis E virus infection

Somani¹,

Aggarwal²,

Naik³

et al. 2003

Journal of Viral Hepatitis

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“… 1,49,50 Secondary attack rates among household members of hepatitis E cases are only 0.7–2.2%; in contrast, 50–75% of susceptible household contacts of hepatitis A cases are known to become infected. 51,52 Even when multiple cases occur among members of a family, such occurrence is related to exposure to a common source of contaminated water rather than to person‐to‐person spread. 49 The mode of transmission responsible for sporadic HEV infections is unclear.…”

Section: Epidemiologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Hepatitis E: An overview and recent advances in clinical and laboratory research

Aggarwal

Krawczynski

2000

J of Gastro and Hepatol

243

217

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Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a non-enveloped RNA (7.5 kb) virus that is responsible for large epidemics of acute hepatitis and a proportion of sporadic hepatitis cases in southeast and central Asia, the Middle East, parts of Africa and Mexico. Hepatitis E virus infection spreads by the faecal-oral route (usually through contaminated water) and presents after an incubation period of 8-10 weeks with a clinical illness resembling other forms of acute viral hepatitis. Clinical attack rates are the highest among young adults. Asymptomatic and anicteric infections are known to occur. Chronic HEV infection is not observed. Although the mortality rate is usually low (0.07-0.6%), the illness may be particularly severe among pregnant women, with mortality rates reaching as high as 25%. Recent isolation of a swine virus resembling human HEV has opened the possibility of zoonotic HEV infection. Studies of pathogenetic events in humans and experimental animals reveal that viral excretion begins approximately 1 week prior to the onset of illness and persists for nearly 2 weks; viraemia can be detected during the late phase of the incubation period. Immunoglobulin M antibody to HEV (anti-HEV) appears early during clinical illness but disappears rapidly over a few months. Immunoglobulin G anti-HEV appears a few days later and persists for at least a few years. There is no specific treatment available for hepatitis E virus infection. Ensuring a clean drinking water supply remains the best preventive strategy. Recombinant vaccines are being developed that may be particularly useful for travellers to disease-endemic areas and for pregnant women.

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“…Many outbreaks of hepatitis A have been traced to a common source (3,5,(7)(8)(9) and associated with person-to-person transmission (1,4). In November 1988 a request for an investigation of an outbreak of hepatitis was received by the Communicable Disease Unit, Epidemiology Laboratory, Istituto Superiore di Sanith of Rome, Italy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An outbreak of hepatitis a in young adults in central Italy

Stroffolini

Biagini²,

Lorenzoni³

et al. 1990

Eur J Epidemiol

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Between September, 1988 and January, 1989 a common source outbreak of 47 cases of serologically confirmed hepatitis A occurred in a town of central Italy. Thirty-eight cases were primary, three co-primary and six secondary. The highest age-specific attack rate was seen in subjects aged 15-24 years (120 per 100,000); the mean age of cases was 24.6 years and the median age was 22 years. A matched triplet case-control study showed significant association between the disease and consumption of either raw mussels (41% of cases, compared with 10% of controls; P less than 0.0001) or a single brand of mineral water (63% of cases, compared with 41% of controls; P less than 0.05). The mean age of the cases reflects the shift in primary susceptibility to the infection from younger to older age groups, a finding which has recently been demonstrated by several seroepidemiological surveys in Italy.

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A Person to Person Hepatitis A Outbreak

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

A serological study of intrafamilial spread from patients with sporadic hepatitis E virus infection

A serological study of intrafamilial spread from patients with sporadic hepatitis E virus infection

Hepatitis E: An overview and recent advances in clinical and laboratory research

An outbreak of hepatitis a in young adults in central Italy

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