High Prevalence of Symptomatic Hepatitis A Infection in Rural Area of Chaharmahal VA Bakhtiari Province, Iran.

INTRODUCTION

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is the most common cause of hepatitis during childhood and is an important public health problem. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate an outbreak of symptomatic viral hepatitis in children and in young adults in a rural area from Chaharmahal Va Bakhtiari Province, Iran.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Serum samples from the 70 patients with icterus, who were suspected for HAV infection, referred to a therapeutic center in a central province of Iran from February to July, 2010 were tested for IgM specific antibody to HAV, using Enzyme linked Fluorscent assay (ELFA) Kit (General Biological Corp., Hsinchu, Taiwan).

RESULTS

All of the 70 children had jaundice. The ELFA results showed that 48 out of 70 (68.6%) tested positive for anti-HAV specific antibody (IgM). The mean age of the individuals were 12.81+12.2 and 23 of them (32.8%) were females. There was significant relationship between seropositivity for IgM anti-HAV antibody and age group in the patients studied (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION

The high number of cases identified, may indicate an outbreak of hepatitis A in this region with the children as the most susceptible age group to this symptomatic infection.