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Prevalence of antibodies against hepatitis A virus among new immigrants in Israel

1995; Wiley; Volume: 46; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/jmv.1890460114

1096-9071

Yuory V. Karetnyi, Ella Mendelson, É. N. Shlyakhov, Eithan Rubinstein, Nina Golubev, Ruth Levin, Michael Sandler, M. Sofer Schreiber, Uri Rubinstein, I Shif, Rachel Handsher, Noemi Varsano, Baruch Modan,

Liver Diseases and Immunity

Abstract Israel, located in a region endemic for hepatitis A virus (HAW, recently absorbed a large popula tion of immigrants who came from the former USSR. To assess the risk of high morbidity in this population a serosurvey of HAV antibodies was undertaken. Serum samples were collected from 965 new immigrants, of whom 664 came from the European, non‐endemic region, and 301 from the Asian and Caucasian endemic regions of the former Soviet Union. They were compared to 240 Israelis. Each population was divided into six age groups: 1‐9, 10‐′l9, 20‐29, 30‐39, 40‐49, and 50 years of age and older. The Asian/Caucasian immigrants and the Israeli population were found to share similar characteristics. In both groups, antibodies to HAV (anti‐HAV) were present in the 1‐9‐year‐old age group and reached maximum prevalence (90% and 86.7%, respectively) in the 20‐29‐year‐old age group. In contrast, among the European immigrants anti‐HAV was first found in the 10‐19‐year‐olds and peaked (93%) in the age group of 50 years and older. It is concluded that immigrants originating from the European part of the former USSR may require vaccination against hepatitis A. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.