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Hepatitis A: Epidemiology, High-Risk Groups, Prevention and Research on Antiviral Treatment

The hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a leading cause of acute viral hepatitis worldwide. It is transmitted mainly by direct contact with patients who have been infected or by ingesting contaminated water or food. The virus is endemic in low-income countries where sanitary and sociodemographic conditions a...

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Autores principales: Migueres, Marion, Lhomme, Sébastien, Izopet, Jacques
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8540458/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34696330
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13101900
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author Migueres, Marion
Lhomme, Sébastien
Izopet, Jacques
author_facet Migueres, Marion
Lhomme, Sébastien
Izopet, Jacques
author_sort Migueres, Marion
collection PubMed
description The hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a leading cause of acute viral hepatitis worldwide. It is transmitted mainly by direct contact with patients who have been infected or by ingesting contaminated water or food. The virus is endemic in low-income countries where sanitary and sociodemographic conditions are poor. Paradoxically, improving sanitary conditions in these countries, which reduces the incidence of HAV infections, can lead to more severe disease in susceptible adults. The populations of developed countries are highly susceptible to HAV, and large outbreaks can occur when the virus is spread by globalization and by increased travel and movement of foodstuffs. Most of these outbreaks occur among high-risk groups: travellers, men who have sex with men, people who use substances, and people facing homelessness. Hepatitis A infections can be prevented by vaccination; safe and effective vaccines have been available for decades. Several countries have successfully introduced universal mass vaccination for children, but high-risk groups in high-income countries remain insufficiently protected. The development of HAV antivirals may be important to control HAV outbreaks in developed countries where a universal vaccination programme is not recommended.
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spelling pubmed-85404582021-10-24 Hepatitis A: Epidemiology, High-Risk Groups, Prevention and Research on Antiviral Treatment Migueres, Marion Lhomme, Sébastien Izopet, Jacques Viruses Review The hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a leading cause of acute viral hepatitis worldwide. It is transmitted mainly by direct contact with patients who have been infected or by ingesting contaminated water or food. The virus is endemic in low-income countries where sanitary and sociodemographic conditions are poor. Paradoxically, improving sanitary conditions in these countries, which reduces the incidence of HAV infections, can lead to more severe disease in susceptible adults. The populations of developed countries are highly susceptible to HAV, and large outbreaks can occur when the virus is spread by globalization and by increased travel and movement of foodstuffs. Most of these outbreaks occur among high-risk groups: travellers, men who have sex with men, people who use substances, and people facing homelessness. Hepatitis A infections can be prevented by vaccination; safe and effective vaccines have been available for decades. Several countries have successfully introduced universal mass vaccination for children, but high-risk groups in high-income countries remain insufficiently protected. The development of HAV antivirals may be important to control HAV outbreaks in developed countries where a universal vaccination programme is not recommended. MDPI 2021-09-22 /pmc/articles/PMC8540458/ /pubmed/34696330 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13101900 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Migueres, Marion
Lhomme, Sébastien
Izopet, Jacques
Hepatitis A: Epidemiology, High-Risk Groups, Prevention and Research on Antiviral Treatment
title Hepatitis A: Epidemiology, High-Risk Groups, Prevention and Research on Antiviral Treatment
title_full Hepatitis A: Epidemiology, High-Risk Groups, Prevention and Research on Antiviral Treatment
title_fullStr Hepatitis A: Epidemiology, High-Risk Groups, Prevention and Research on Antiviral Treatment
title_full_unstemmed Hepatitis A: Epidemiology, High-Risk Groups, Prevention and Research on Antiviral Treatment
title_short Hepatitis A: Epidemiology, High-Risk Groups, Prevention and Research on Antiviral Treatment
title_sort hepatitis a: epidemiology, high-risk groups, prevention and research on antiviral treatment
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8540458/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34696330
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13101900
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