title: [Seroepidemiologic study of the prevalence of anti-HAV antibodies in children in Rome].
abstract: The authors evaluated the incidence of infection by hepatitis A virus (HAV) in a paediatric population through a seroepidemiological investigation in a group of 278 children (0-12 years old), apparently healthy. The determination of anti-HAV antibodies was carried out by ELISA-test. Of the 287 examined sera, 27 cases turned out HAV positive antibodies (9.7%), with the following distribution, according to the groups of age: 0-3 months: 2 of 6 children were positive (mother's antibodies); 3 months-2 years: 6 of 112 (5.35%); 2-6 years: 10 of 93 (10.75%); 6-12 years: 11 of 67 (16.41%). With regard to distribution of anti-HAV antibodies by sex, 23 (15.03%) males of 153 resulted positive, whereas 4 (3.2%) females of 125 resulted positive. The decline of HAV infection in the paediatric age involves a possible shift of the risk to the adult age. It's advisable that the vaccination against hepatitis A in first period should be reserved for the subjects at risk and later both for unweaned and children in order to eradicate the infection.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive e Tropicali dell Università degli Studi La Sapienza, Roma.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Catania
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ajassa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tzantzoglou
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bellagamba
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Berardelli
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Catania
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D006507:Hepatovirus / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012384:Rome / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies
vernacular_title: Studio sieroepidemiologico della prevalenza degli anticorpi anti HAV nei bambini di Roma e Provincia.