AGE-SPECIFIC SEROPREVALENCE OF HEPATITIS A AMONG SCHOOL CHILDREN IN CENTRAL TUNISIA
| Autor: | L. Jemni, Nawfal Kaabia, Amel Bousaadia, Fatma Lazrag, Rafika Gaha, Halim Trabelsi, Amel Letaief, Hassen Ghannem |
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| Rok vydání: | 2005 |
| Předmět: |
Male
Parents medicine.medical_specialty Tunisia Adolescent Population Risk Factors Seroepidemiologic Studies Water Supply Virology Epidemiology Humans Medicine Seroprevalence Child education Hepatitis education.field_of_study Sewage business.industry Incidence (epidemiology) Hepatitis A Odds ratio medicine.disease Infectious Diseases Multivariate Analysis Immunology Housing Educational Status Regression Analysis Female Parasitology Rural area business Demography |
| Zdroj: | The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 73:40-43 |
| ISSN: | 1476-1645 0002-9637 |
| Popis: | Hepatitis A virus (HAV) has different epidemiologic and clinical patterns, depending on the level of endemicity in a given geographic area. Tunisia is considered a region of high endemicity for hepatitis. Improvement of socioeconomic conditions in this country has made a determination of the seroprevalence of this disease advisable. We assessed the seroprevalence of HAV in Sousse in central Tunisia. A total of 2,400 school children 5-20 years of age (mean +/- SD age = 11.7 +/- 3.5 years) were selected by two-stage cluster sampling and tested serologically for IgG antibody to HAV by using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The overall seroprevalence among this population was 60% (44%, in children10 years old, 58% in those 10-15 years of age, and 83% in those15 years of age. Seroprevalence also varied according to area of residence. At the age of 10, 21.3% of school children living in the urban areas and 87.7% of those living in rural areas had antibodies to HAV. Other factors that increased seroprevalence included non-potable water, crowding, and a low education level of parents with odds ratios of 4.37, 2.96, and 2.62, respectively. This study has shown an increase of seroprevalence with age, suggesting that transmission among younger children has decreased, particularly in urban areas. Programs to prevent hepatitis A may need to be modified based upon the changing age distribution of the disease and mass vaccination program could be indicated if additional incidence and prevalence data confirm the intermediate endemicity of HAV. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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