Heath T, Lovegrove D, Westley-Wise V, Roberts C
Western Sector Public Health Unit, North Parramatta New South Wales.
Commun Dis Intell. 1997 Jan 9;21(1):1-4. doi: 10.33321/cdi.1997.21.1.
We investigated a community-wide outbreak of hepatitis A virus infection in the Shoalhaven region of the New South Wales south coast. Epidemiological features of the outbreak suggested that transmission was predominantly person-to-person. These included: the prolonged course of the epidemic, the bimodal age-specific attack rate, the lower socioeconomic risk groups affected, and the large proportion of cases who reported prior contact with another case. Although widespread use of post-exposure immunoprophylaxis appeared to be effective in preventing symptomatic infection in individuals, it did not rapidly halt the outbreak. We review methods of mass intervention for community-wide outbreaks of hepatitis A virus infection, and define priorities for investigation of future outbreaks.
