seroprevalence of hepatitis a virus among iranian soldiers

background: hepatitis a virus (hav) is highly contagious in individuals living in crowded conditions such as military centers. objectives : this study try to investigate the seroprevalence of hav immunity among iranian soldiers and determine whether vaccination should be used for military draftees. patients and methods: in this cross-sectional study, a total of 1554 soldiers were recruited through random clustering sampling. serum anti-hav antibody was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa).statistical analysis was performed using spss. results: a total of 1554 male soldiers with age ranged from 18 to 34 years (mean age: 21.2±1.9 y) at baseline were evaluated. overall, 80.3% of the analyzed specimens were anti-hav seropositive. the seroprevalence rates increased significantly with the age. conclusion: our results suggest that generally vaccination for hav is not necessary for iranian military draftees. but the vaccination is recommended for high-risk groups including anti-hav seronegative soldiers.