Prevalence of Hepatitis A in Clinically Suspected Cases of Acute Viral Hepatitis in Tertiary Care Hospital, Rajkot

Volume : IV, Issue : IV, April - 2015

Dr. Nirav Pandya, Dr. Anil Chaudhary

Objective: Hepatitis A is one of the most common infections during childhood, transmitted by faeco oral route in

Developing countries. This study was performed to detect the profile of Hepatitis A virus in clinically suspected cases

of acute viral Hepatitis attending Max hospital, Dehradun.

Material & Methods: Study was conducted in our institute from Jan 2013 to March 2014. Total 310 blood samples of patient suspected of acute

viral hepatitis were collected and tested for anti HAV IgM antibody by ELISA method.

Findings: Out of 310 samples, total 65 patients (20.97%) were positive for anti HAV IgM antibody among this.30 (46.15%) were < 5 years of age,

23 (35.38%) were between 6-10 years of age , 5 (7.69%) were between 11-18 years of age and only 7 (10.77%) were between > 18 years of age. 39

(60%) were Male and 26 (40%) were Female. Negative history of HAV vaccine in all cases.

Conclusion: Study confirms that, HAV most commonly cause acute viral hepatitis in < 5yr, followed by 6-10 yr. In this present study there is

low evidence of HAV infection in adults. HAV is more common in Male compare to female. It is concluded that in addition to other preventive

measures, if children are to be vaccinated against hepatitis A they should be immunized against HAV by 1 year of age when the maternal

antibodies disappear.