Seropositivity of Antibodies Against Hepatitis A Virus in Mashhad, Northeast of Iran, 2009: A Cross-Sectional Community-Based Study

Hepatitis A Virus (HAV) is the most common cause of acute viral hepatitis worldwide, mostly in developing countries.

This population-based survey was performed to investigate HAV seroprevalence in Mashhad, northeast of Iran.

A cross-sectional study was performed on 1563 randomly selected individuals from general population of Mashhad, Iran, between May and September 2009. Serum samples were tested for total anti-HAV antibodies using the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) kit. Data was analyzed using SPSS ver. 18.0 by Chi-square and Student’s t-Tests.

Seroprevalence of HAV infection was 69.6% (95% CI: 67.3-71.9%) with no difference between males and females. Anti-HAV seropositivity increased with rising age from 9.4% in subjects younger than 5 years to 100.0% in individuals older than 65 years old (P < 0.001).

As it was previously reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) on HAV infection in the country, this study revealed a high prevalence of HAV infection in Mashhad.