title: The changing face of the epidemiology of type A, B, and D viral hepatitis in Italy, following the implementation of vaccination.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health - Microbiology - Virology, University of Milan, Via C. Pascal 36, 20133 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Romanò
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paladini
authors.forename: Catia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tagliacarne
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zappa
authors.forename: Alessandro Remo
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Zanetti
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D022362:Hepatitis A Vaccines; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines