Feco-orally transmitted viral hepatitis in a tertiary care hospital in urban India

Objective: To investigate the magnitude and pattern of hepatitis viral markers in feco-orally transmitted acute viral hepatitis with their relation to age and sex. Methods: This prospective study was carried out in two groups of subjects including the study group of 600 patients with clinically suspected infectious hepatitis and control group of 200 patients showing no clinical evidence of acute infectious hepatitis. Serum samples were tested for the presence of anti-hepatitis A virus (HAV) IgM and Anti-hepatitis E virus (HEV) IgM antibodies using commercial ELISA test kits. Results: The seroprevalence rate of feco-orally transmitted acute viral hepatitis was 11.8% in the study group compared to 4.5% in the control group (p=0.007). The prevalence of anti-HAV IgM was 8.3% while that of anti-HEV IgM was 3.5% in the same group. Maximum seropositivity of anti-HAV IgM was seen in 0-10 years of age in the study group (16.8%) followed by 11-20 years (7.2%) and 21-30 years (4.6%). In the study group, the maximum seropositivity of anti-HEV IgM was seen in 21-30 years (10.7%) followed by 31-40 years (2.9%), 11-20 years (2.7%) and 0-10 years (0.9%). Male predominance was seen in both types of acute viral hepatitis. Conclusion: While HEV infection was predominantly seen in young adults, HAV infection was predominantly a childhood infection and its prevalence decreased by age. Being enterically transmitted viral diseases it is recommended that immunization programs, public awareness measures for hygiene and safe drinking water should be consolidated. J Microbiol Infect Dis 2013;3(4): 181-185