Where is hepatitis a found in the world

Back to Hepatitis A. Hepatitis A is caused by the hepatitis A virus, which is spread in the poo of someone with the infection. Most infections occur in parts of the world where sanitation and food hygiene standards are poor, although there's a small risk of becoming infected in the UK.

Someone with hepatitis A is most infectious from around 2 weeks before they start to develop symptoms until about a week afterwards. Hepatitis A outbreaks throughout the world over the last decade. Although feco-oral route has been implicated in most of the cases, sexual mode of transmission among high risk groups is the second most prevalent route of transmission [ , ].

The first outbreak affected people, with two hospitalization while, the second outbreak affected individuals with 94 hospitalizations [ 93 , 94 ]. An HAV outbreak in California in encompassed homelessness individuals and illicit drug users with poor sanitation practices. The outbreak spread to several other states as well. A total of individuals were infected, with 45 hospitalizations and 21 deaths [ 95 ].

A sizeable hepatitis A outbreak was reported in Australia in , resulting in a 2-fold increase in the number of cases reported to the state health departments.

Surveillance data suggested infection due to contaminated semidried tomatoes [ 96 ]. All these outbreaks were attributable to feco-oral route [ 97 ]. Attack rate was found to be highest among the age group of 16—30 years 1. In another study, authors reported HAV outbreak in the medical college area in Kottayam [ ]. Another outbreak of acute hepatitis was reported from Mylapore village, Kollam district, southern India during February to June A total of 45 cases were affected, pipe water contamination from a bore well was identified as the source [ ].

In a study conducted among acute viral hepatitis patients in North India, hepatitis A virus was identified as the most common etiological agent Gassowski et al.

One affecting travelers returning from Morocco and the other among European residents without travel history. The outbreaks lasted from January to June , affecting patients in eight European countries. Common risk factor among the cases was found to be unvaccinated travel due to lack of awareness [ ]. Two of the cases gave history of travel to Israel for the same event a few days back.

A total of contacts of the cases were traced and vaccinated [ ]. Outbreak strains among MSM across countries were found to be genetically alike and circulated for over a decade [ , ]. The strain was later identified as TA strain. A similar outbreak strain was also reported in the United States in [ ], which suggests a global pattern of increased risk among susceptible male adults, with possible transmission through sexual contacts at MSM events.

HAV adversely affects the economy of a country by decreasing productivity of its citizens due to absenteeism from work, adding to medical costs and the effect on tourism. Improving sanitary conditions and providing clean drinking water are imperative pillars in curtailing spread of HAV. Simple method like hand hygiene is an effective way to prevent virus transmission. Vaccination forms the foundation in prevention of HAV. Both inactivated and live attenuated vaccines are licensed and available for use.

Improved sanitation and vaccination although prevents Hepatitis A infection, it paradoxically increases the susceptibility of adult population towards a more symptomatic disease. This vicious cycle is the dilemma of HAV control and prevention program. Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3. Help us write another book on this subject and reach those readers.

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Downloaded: Abstract Hepatitis A virus is a common infectious etiology of acute hepatitis worldwide. Keywords acute hepatitis vaccine feco-oral route men who have sex with men outbreak sero-prevalence paradox of hepatitis A. Introduction The discovery of hepatitis viruses is one of the most mesmerizing scientific escapades of the last five decades.

Table 1. List of HAV vaccines available in market. Table 2. Hepatitis A outbreaks around the world over the last decade.

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Risk areas for Hepatitis A. You can take the following precautions to help reduce your risk of infection: Visit your nearest convenient pharmacy or specialist travel health clinic for a risk assessment before your trip. Avoid food and drink including ice cubes which may have been prepared by someone infected with the virus and has not washed their hands properly, or washed them in water contaminated with sewage.

Ready to get started? Check now for your nearest travel health clinic. Get started, for your free online assessment! Use current location Use postcode Please enter your postcode: Find your clinic for a free assessment. References World Health Organization. Fact sheets.

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