title: Prevalence of anti-HAV antibodies in multitransfused patients with beta-thalassemia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To detect the prevalence of anti-HAV IgG antibodies in adult multitransfused beta-thalassemic patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 182 adult beta-thalassemic patients and 209 controls matched for age and sex from the same geographic area, at the same time. Anti-HAV IgG antibodies, viral markers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Anti-HAV IgG antibodies were detected more frequently in thalassemic patients (133/182; 73.1%) than in healthy controls (38/209; 18.2%, P < 0.0005). When we retrospectively evaluated the prevalence of anti-HAV IgG antibodies in 176/182 (96.7%) thalassemic patients, whose medical history was available for the previous ten years, it was found that 83 (47.2%) of them were continuously anti-HAV IgG positive, 16 (9.1%) acquired anti-HAV IgG antibody during the previous ten years, 49 (27.8%) presented anti-HAV positivity intermittently and 28 (15.9%) were anti-HAV negative continuously.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Multitransfused adult beta-thalassemic patients present higher frequency of anti-HAV IgG antibodies than normal population of the same geographic area. This difference is difficult to explain, but it can be attributed to the higher vulnerability of thalassemics to HAV infection and to passive transfer of anti-HAV antibodies by blood transfusions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Patras University Hospital, 4 Tertseti Str, Patras 26442, Greece. dsiagris@altecnet.gr
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Siagris
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kouraklis-Symeonidis
authors.forename: Irini
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Konstantinidou
authors.forename: Myrto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Christofidou
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Starakis
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lekkou
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Papadimitriou
authors.forename: Alexandros
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blikas
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zoumbos
authors.forename: Chryssoula
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Labropoulou-Karatza
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D035922:Hepatitis A Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D030041:Hepatitis A virus / Q000276:immunology*; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D035922:Hepatitis A Antibodies; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D007074:Immunoglobulin G