The changing face of the epidemiology of type A, B, and D viral hepatitis in Italy, following the implementation of vaccination.
The morbidity and mortality rates of viral hepatitis A, B and Delta have dramatically dropped in Italy during the last decades. Thanks to the general improvements in hygiene and sanitation, hepatitis A has shifted from a high to an intermediate/low endemicity status. Vaccination against hepatitis A is recommended to people at increased risk, including travellers to endemic areas, military personnel and individuals at occupational risk. The implementation of universal anti-hepatitis B vaccination of infants and adolescents has resulted in a dramatic decline in disease burden and in the carrier rate. An additional benefit of hepatitis B vaccination is that hepatitis Delta has also substantially declined.
Romanò
Luisa
L
Department of Public Health - Microbiology - Virology, University of Milan, Via C. Pascal 36, 20133 Milano, Italy.
Paladini
Sara
S
Tagliacarne
Catia
C
Zappa
Alessandra
A
Zanetti
Alessandro Remo
AR
D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000453:epidemiology*; D022362:Hepatitis A Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D003699:Hepatitis D / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D014611:Vaccination
D022362:Hepatitis A Vaccines; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines