Hepatitis A seroprevalence in Tuscany, Italy.
Euro Surveill
; 14(10)2009 Mar 12.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-19317984
ABSTRACT
Information regarding the current seroprevalence of hepatitis A virus (HAV) is useful for the control of HAV infections. The objective of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of anti-HAV antibodies among children (1-5 years old) and young adults (15-20 years old) in Tuscany, in central Italy. A total of 565 sera were collected in three years 1992, 1998 and 2004, equally distributed between the two age groups. The overal proportion of those that tested positive for anti-HAV antibodies was 8.3%. The proportion of immune children (1-5 years old) statistically significantly increased over the years. The percentage of immune subjects among 15-20-year-old young adults varied over the years, not showing a significant statistical trend, nevertheless our findings indicate that in a low endemicity area, adolescents and young adults are becoming increasingly susceptible to HAV infection. On-going monitoring of immunity to HAV is necessary for detecting trends over time.
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Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Anticorpos Anti-Hepatite
/
Vigilância da População
/
Hepatite A
Tipo de estudo:
Prevalence_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
/
Screening_studies
Limite:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
/
Newborn
País/Região como assunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2009
Tipo de documento:
Article