title: Current seroprevalence of hepatitis A virus infection among kindergarten children and teachers in Taiwan.
abstract: Taiwan was a hyperendemic area for hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection before the late 1980s. The seroprevalence of HAV infection was higher than 90% with most HAV infection occurring during childhood. This study was to estimate the seroprevalence of HAV infection among preschool children in central Taiwan. A community-based survey was carried out in 54 kindergartens in 10 urban areas, 10 rural areas and 2 aboriginal areas randomly selected through stratified sampling. Serum samples of 2,549 healthy preschool children and 104 teachers in study kindergartens were screened for the HAV antibodies (anti-HAV) by means of a commercially available microparticle enzyme immunoassay (AxSYM HAVAB). Among aboriginal kindergarten children, more than 96% of them were anti-HAV seropositive due to a mass HAV vaccination program. In urban and rural areas, kindergarten children had a very low prevalence of anti-HAV (0.4%) in contrast to a high seroprevalence in their teachers (78%). There was no gender difference in seroprevalence of anti-HAV, while the anti-HAV seroprevalence was significantly higher in urban areas than in rural areas. Crowdedness of living in urban areas might facilitate the person-to-person transmission of infectious agents.
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Technology, Chung Shan Medical and Dental College, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: T P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: You
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000453:epidemiology*; D035922:Hepatitis A Antibodies; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D006507:Hepatovirus / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D012423:Rural Health; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D014504:Urban Health
chemical_list: D035922:Hepatitis A Antibodies; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies