Seroprevalence of IgG Anti-HAV in Hospital Employees below 40 Years Old.
10.4166/kjg.2010.55.3.183
- Author:
Du Young NOH
1
;
Yong Chan CHO
;
Won Jung JUN
;
Sung Kyun KIM
;
Kyoung Won YUN
;
Seon Young PARK
;
Wan Sik LEE
;
Yeong Eun JU
;
Hyun Soo KIM
;
Sung Kyu CHOI
;
Jong Sun REW
Author Information
1. Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea. choisk@jnu.ac.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article ; English Abstract
- Keywords:
Hepatitis A;
Seroprevalance;
IgG anti-HAV;
Hospital employee
- MeSH:
Adult;
Female;
Hepatitis A/*epidemiology;
Hepatitis A Antibodies/*blood;
Hepatitis A Virus, Human/immunology;
Hospitals;
Humans;
Immunoglobulin G/*blood;
Male;
Occupational Diseases/*epidemiology;
*Personnel, Hospital;
Seroepidemiologic Studies;
Young Adult
- From:The Korean Journal of Gastroenterology
2010;55(3):183-188
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Hepatitis A is an acute infectious disease transmitted by fecal-oral route. As the incidence of hepatitis A has been increased in Gwangju and Chonnam province of Korea recently, the number of hepatitis A patients in hospital employees has also increased. Thus, we investigated the seroprevalence of IgG anti-HAV in hospital employees below 40 years old. METHODS: We analysed the seroprevalence of anti-HAV IgG from 1,002 Chonnam national university hospital empolyees (men: 190, women: 812) who were below 40 years old. The age group was divided by 5 years; 21-25 years old 199 (19.9%), 26-30 years old 426 (42.5%), 31-35 years old 215 (21.5%), 36-40 years old 162 (16.1%). RESULTS: Overall seropositive rate of IgG anti-HAV was 32.8% (329/1,002). The seropositive rate of men was 40.5% (77/190) and that of women was 31.0% (252/812). The seropositive rates of each age group were 1.5% (3/199) in 21-25 years old, 21.6% (92/426) in 26-30 years old, 48.4% (104/215) in 31-35 years old, and 80.2% (130/162) in 36-40 years old. The seropositivity rate of the high risk group (doctors, nurses, technicians) was 28.9% (234/809). CONCLUSIONS: The seropositive rate of IgG anti-HAV was the lowest in early twenties of hospital employees and below 50% in early thirties. Therefore, hepatitis A vaccination may be warranted in the hospital empolyees below the early thirties.
