Exposer rate of hepatitis E (IgG) in a selected population of children and adults in Karachi.
OBJECTIVE
To see exposure rate of hepatitis E (IgG) in 100 apparently healthy children and adults.


METHODS
Sera from 100 healthy children aged 1 day to 10 years and 100 healthy adults aged 18-45 years were analysed for exposure to hepatitis E (IgG) using ELISA.


RESULTS
Two samples from children were excluded from the study due to improper storage leaving 98 samples for analysis. Of 98 sera from children 19.4% were positive for IgG indicating previous exposure to hepatitis E. The exposure rate increased with age and was 10% in children below 1 year of age, 14% at 2 years, 19% at 3 years and 28% at 10 years. In adults overall exposure was 16%. There was no predominance of either sex in both the groups and all individuals belonged to middle to lower socioeconomic strata.


CONCLUSIONS
An exposure of 19% in children and 16% in adults indicates high faecal contamination of drinking water and re-addressing of the issue of use of boiled water on individual level, supply of potable water on the government level and a need to produce a vaccine on international level.
Qureshi
H
H
PMRC Research Centre, Karachi.
Shahid
A
A
Mujeeb
S A
SA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology
D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies