BACKGROUNDLive attenuated hepatitis A vaccine (H2 strain) is widely applied in prevention of hepatitis A epidemic in China and other countries now. It is essential to observe and confirm the vaccine immune efficacy, population antibody level and its persistent efficacy after mass immunization.

METHODSA total of 220 children with negative anti-HAV antibody (aged 1 - 3 years) were taken for follow-up assay to observe seroconversion and geometric mean titre (GMT) level 2 months, 12 months, 6 years, and 10 years after inoculation. Another survey sampled from subjects of different age groups (3, 6, 9, 15, 18, 25 and 35 years) to compare anti-HA antibody positive rate before and after inoculation performed 10 years previously. Epidemiological observations were taken for 10 years to evaluate the relationship between vaccine coverage and hepatitis A morbidity. Serum antibody to HAV was detected by enzyme linked immunoassay (ELISA, calibrated by WHO international reference) and ABBOTT Axsym HAVAB microparticle enzyme immunoassay.

RESULTSSeroconversion in follow-up assay 2 months and 10 years after inoculation was 98.6% and 80.2% respectively. For children, the vaccination anti-HA antibody positive rates were significantly different before and after 10 years, 7.69% cf 70.45% (aged 3 years) and 52.58% cf 71.78% (aged 18 years). When vaccine coverage rose from 57% to 74%, there were no any HA epidemics. When vaccine coverage reached 85%, there were no any HA cases. With vaccine coverage between 85% and 91%, there were no any HA cases in cohorts from the age of 1 year to 15 years during the 10 years.

CONCLUSIONSLive attenuated hepatitis A vaccine has an obvious long-term effectiveness in prevention and control of HA epidemics through mass vaccination.