Changing patterns of hepatitis A prevalence within the Saudi population over the last 18 years

Abstract

0.0001). CONCLUSION: Over the last 18 years, there has been a marked decline in the prevalence of HAV in Saudi children and adolescents. The current low prevalence rates call for strict adherence to vaccination policies in high-risk patients and raises the question of a universal HAV vaccination program. INTRODUCTIONHepatitis A (HAV) is a major health problem worldwide and, like other enteric infectious diseases, is classically an infection of childhood. Although acute infection commonly passes unnoticed, a significant proportion of patients may have fulminant liver failure, especially patients with liver cirrhosis or immune deficiencies. Generally, its prevalence pattern varies from one population to the other and is closely related to the socioeconomic conditions of sanitation and hygiene. An improvement in sanitation and living standards in many areas of the world has caused the epidemiology of HAV to rapidly evolve. As such, with an improvement in living conditions, more clinical cases are being diagnosed owing to the increased age of those susceptible, which is paradoxical to childhood infection where the majority of infections are subclinical [1][2][3][4][5] . The availability of safe and efficacious vaccines against HAV has made it Abstract AIM: To determine the seroprevalence of Hepatitis A (HAV) amongst Saudi children and compare it with previously reported prevalence data from the same population. METHODS: A total of 1357 students were randomly selected between the ages of 16 and 18 years (689 males and 668 females) from three different regions of Saudi Arabia (Madinah, Al-Qaseem, and Aseer) and tested for anti-HAV-IgG. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of anti-HAV-IgG among the study population was 18.6%. There was no difference between males and females but there was a significant difference in the seroprevalence (P = 0.0001) between the three different regions, with Madinah region showing the highest prevalence (27.4%). When classified according to socioeconomic status, lower class students had a prevalence of 36.6%, lower middle class 16.6%, upper middle class 9.6%, and upper class 5.9% (P = 0.0001). Comparing the current study results with those of previous studies in 1989 and 1997 involving the same population, there was a marked reduction in the overall prevalence of HAV

Epidemiological Study of Hepatitis A Infection in Eastern Bulgaria

“…In absolute terms, the increase in risk for males was 50 cases per 100000. In both developed and developing countries frequency rates of acute HAV among males are higher than among females 15,16 , although the seroprevalence is equal in both sexes 17 .…”

Epidemiology of viral hepatitis in Saudi Arabia: Are we off the hook?

“…The anti-HAV prevalence rate in the KSA was recently estimated at 18.6%, a considerable reduction from the 90-100% rates reported only two decades ago in the adult population [Figure 3]. [55–57] The rate of HAV infection among children aged 1-12 years has also reduced dramatically from 52% in 1989 to 25% in 1997 according to community-based studies. [5859] A comparative study that monitored the prevalence of HAV infection in a single cohort of children from 1989 to 2008 and spread over three regions of Saudi Arabia found a significant linear decline from 53% in 1989 to 25% in 1997, and finally to 18.6% in 2008.…”

Hepatitis A Virus and Hepatitis E Virus Infection in Adult Patients From A Tertiary Care Hospital of North India

“…Among them the anti-HAV IgG prevalence in lower economic class student was 36.6%, lower middle economic class 16.6%, upper middle economic class 9.6% and upper economic class 5.1%. The study indicates that these countries may have increasing burden of disease from HAV infection in future [8]. [10].Also, HAV infection in adults lead to acute liver failure(ALF) as found in 0.85% of patients (27/1371) in a hospital based study [11].…”