Seroprevalence of hepatitis A virus infection in Central-West of Tunisia.

BACKGROUND Hepatitis A infections still represent a major global health concern. During the past years, a transition pattern of the hepatitis A epidemiology was noted in many parts of the world. In Tunisia, there's not a recent survey on age-specific hepatitis A virus seroprevalence. This study aimed to investigate the seroprevalence of hepatitis A virus infection in Central-West Tunisia, representative of regions with lowest socio-economic level in the country, before vaccine implementation. METHODS Sera obtained from the blood samples of subjects were screened for the detection of hepatitis A virus. The seroprevalence was evaluated by detection of total antibodies to hepatitis A virus using commercially available immunoassay kits. RESULTS A total of 1,379 subjects, aged 5-75 years (mean age: 29.0± 17.3 years) were studied. The global anti-hepatitis A virus seroplevalence was 84.7% (95%Confidence Interval [82.6-86.5]). A higher hepatitis A virus seroprevalence was showed in subjects aged 10-14 years compared to those aged <10-years (50.0%VS 31.0%). In subjects aged 20-29 years, a rapid increase in the hepatitis A virus prevalence was noted; it reached 97.0%. The seroprevalence of anti-hepatitis A virus differed by zone of residence (81.1% in rural area Vs 72.4% in urban area,p=0.005) and increased significantly with lower level of education (p=0.019). There was no statistical significant seroprevalence difference between male and female: 84.2%VS 85.2%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Our study confirm the transition pattern of the hepatitis A virus endemicity in Tunisia from high to intermediate and provide an evaluation of the hepatitis A virus epidemiological situation before vaccine implementation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.