Seroprevalence study of hepatitis A virus in Fars province, southern Iran

BACKGROUND: There are several studies on seroprevalence of hepatitis A virus (HAV) in adults in the Middle East. OBJECTIVES: To determine seroprevalence of HAV among adult population in Fars province, southern Iran. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, we checked anti-HAV antibody (IgG) in subjects refereed to our health care centers to perform laboratory tests before getting married between March 2008 and March 2009. Age-specific seroprevalence was also determined. Some risk factors like level of education, type of residence, job, numbers of family members, and access to treated water were also evaluated in these participants. RESULTS: From 1050 subjects studied, 927 (88.2%) had ant-HAV antibody; 123 (11.8%) were antibody negative. Among subjects aged < 20 years, the anti-HAV seroprevalence was the lowest (79.3%) followed by subjects aged 20-30 years (91.3%) and those > 30 years (99%) (p = 0.01). 85.1% of studied individuals in urban areas had anti-HAV IgG while 95.9% of subjects in rural regions were anti-HAV positive (p = 0.001). The seroprevalence of HAV antibody was significantly associated with number of family members (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: HAV is highly prevalent in our region especially in rural areas. It is better to vaccinate the children for HAV by the time they receive HBV vaccine or when they are five years.