ABSTRACT
Background: Hepatitis A & E are highly endemic & are significant contributors of morbidity & mortality in India. Retrospective analysis of the data was carried out to find the prevalence of hepatitis A & E virus ( HAV & HEV ) among the acute sporadic hepatitis patients & the coinfection of HAV & HEV among these patients.
Aim: To find the prevalence of hepatitis A & E among sporadic cases of acute hepatitis in a tertiary care hospital.
Settings and Design: Retrospective study conducted in a tertiary care Hospital
Materials & methods: Data from July 2014 to December 2015 regarding IgM HAV and IgM HEV ELISA was …show more content…
Similar findings were demonstrated by Radhakrishnan et al, Singh et al, Naaimi et al and Ayoola et al.20,21,22,25
HAV & HEV are similar in many ways, the mode of transmission, the clinical manifestation. But still it differs in its age epidemiology, this could be due to the fact that HAV after infection gives a sustained protection against reinfection, thus prevalence in adults & older children is less, while HEV infection in childhood may be asymptomatic or cause anicteric hepatitis which may go unnoticed and the antibodies to HEV may disappear early, making older children & adults susceptible to reinfection.16
HAV & HEV both did not show any particular seasonal pattern and were prevalent throughout the year, but more number of HAV cases were reported in winters of 2014 & summer of 2015, while more number of HEV cases were reported in the beginning of winter 2014 & monsoon 2015. The rise in number of cases of both HAV & HEV was found to be significant. Floods are known to be responsible for increasing the number of cases and outbreaks of both HAV & HEV due to contamination of drinking water with faeces. Mumbai faced floods during the month of June & July 2015, which was followed by the rising number of HEV