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Seroepidemiological Markers of Enterically Transmitted Viral Hepatitis A and E in Individuals Living in a Community Located in the North Area of Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
Damião Carlos Moraes dos Santos; Francisco José Dutra Souto*; Débora Regina Lopes dos Santos; Cláudia Lamarca Vitral & Ana Maria Coimbra Gaspar
Abstract
We investigated the seroprevalence of hepatitis A virus (HAV)
and hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection in subjects living in the community
of Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and assisted at the Health Unit
of Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Fundação Oswaldo
Cruz. After formal consent, individuals were submitted to an interview
using a standardized questionnaire. Anti-HAV and anti-HEV antibodies were
detected by ELISA. Statistical analysis was carried out using the Epi-Info
6.04b software, to investigate possible associations between serological
markers and risk factors. Results were regarded as significant when p
value < 0.05.
Although a high prevalence of anti-HAV was observed (87%),
almost 50% of subjects under the age of 10 were susceptible to HAV infection,
an unexpected rate in endemic areas. This fact could be attributed to
improvements in environmental sanitation, occurring in this area in the
last years. The increasing proportion of susceptible people may result
in outbreaks of HAV infection, since the virus still circulates in this
area, as verified by the detection of anti-HAV IgM in some individuals.
No statistical association was met between HAV infection and the risk
factors here assessed. The anti-HEV IgG prevalence found in this population
was 2.4%, consistent with the one found in non-endemic areas.
Keywords
hepatitis A virus - hepatitis E virus - seroprevalence - epidemiology - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
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