Hepatitis a seropositivity and characteristics among healthcare workers in a training and research hospital in Istanbul

Objective: In this study, we investigated the relationship between the socioeconomic status, living conditions, life span, working life timeand the seropositivity of HEPATITIS A Virus (HAV) infection among our hospital staff members. Material and Methods:  Anti-HAV IgG  testing of randomly selected 167 healthcare workers were examined in 2012-2013. All participants answered on a questionnaire consisting questions on transmission routes and socioeconomic status. Results: Overall HAV seropositivity was found to be %43.1 among healthcare workers with a mean age of 33.4 for subjects with positive results and 27.4 years with negative results. Observed risk factors for seropositivity were the life span, professional working life time, life time in Istanbul, history of living in rural areas and frequent toilet usage outside of the house (p < 0.05).  The factors that are inversely associated with seropositivity were educational level of parents, being born in Aegean-Mediterranean region, bottled water share in drinking water consumption and being a physician (p < 0.05). Conclusion: HAV infections  contniue to be a serious problem.Vaccination must be considered for seronegative healthcare workers and the public.