Prevalence of acute HAV infection at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis A virus (HAV) causes acute viral hepatitis (AVH), a major public health problem in Thailand and other developing regions of the world. Knowledge about the epidemiology of hepatitis A will be helpful for appropriate management of cases as well as preventive plans. There is the scarcity of data on the distribution of HAV caused AVH in Bangkok.

Objective: The aims of this study were to determine prevalence of HAV as a cause of AVH in patients at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok.

Methods: The presence of anti-HAV IgM antibody were retrospectively evaluated from 560 serum samples sent to microbiology laboratory from October 2016 to April 2017. The presence of anti-HAV IgM antibody in serum samples were studied by using Architect HAVAb-IgM – Architect i2000SR system test kits.

Results: In all 13.8% of the analyzed samples were positive for anti-HAV IgM antibody. Seropositivity for HAV was higher in males (18.9%) than females (8.6%). Antibody-HAV IgM positivity showed highest rate in the age group of 1 - 20 years old (63.3%).

Conclusion: The prevalence rate of hepatitis A caused AVH among patients at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital was 13.8%. Most of the cases were 1 - 20 years old. This information might be essential for public health surveillance and prevention of HAV infection.