Hepatitis a in Korea: epidemiological shift and call for vaccine strategy.
OBJECTIVE
The number of adult hepatitis A cases has progressively been increasing during the last several years in Korea. The aim of the present study was to describe the recent clinical features of hepatitis A and the seroprevalence of hepatitis A virus (HAV), and to discuss HAV vaccine strategy in Korea.


METHODS
Retrospective analysis of clinical characteristics of hepatitis A from 109 patients consecutively enrolled at a community hospital between 2003 and 2006 as well as cross-sectional study of seroprevalence of HAV from 307 patients of hospital population group during the same period were performed.


RESULTS
Most hepatitis A cases were young adults in their twenties or thirties, and the severity of the disease was related to the age of patients. The seroprevalence of HAV was 62%, which was dependent on the age of patients. HAV seroepidemiology in Korea is rapidly changing and a growing number of young adults are susceptible to HAV infection.


CONCLUSIONS
The clinical features and the epidemiological shift of HAV urge Korea, as well as other countries which are experiencing similar issues, to promote childhood vaccination and consider catch-up vaccination for adolescents and young adults.
Lee
Donghun
D
Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam-si, Korea.
Cho
Young-Ae
YA
Park
Youngsoo
Y
Hwang
Jin-Hyuk
JH
Kim
Jin Wook
JW
Kim
Na Young
NY
Lee
Dong Ho
DH
Lee
Wonwoo
W
Jeong
Sook-Hyang
SH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D035922:Hepatitis A Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D022362:Hepatitis A Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage; D017957:Hepatitis A Virus, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014611:Vaccination
D035922:Hepatitis A Antibodies; D022362:Hepatitis A Vaccines