title: [Assessing the force of hepatitis A virus infection in Colombia by applying catalytic models].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Estimating the force of hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection concerning a 1- to 15-year-old child population being attended at six healthcare centres in Colombia by applying catalytic models.
  
  
  METHODS
  Anti-HAV seroprevalence was estimated in 2,152 patients attending six health centres in 5 Colombian cities; based on such estimation, the force of infection and average age of infection were obtained for each region.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 1- to 4-year-old age group's force of infection was 0.15 in Barranquilla; for the other cities the force of infection was 0.02 in Bogotá for the 5- to 15-year-old age group and 0.06 in Medellin for the 1- to 9-year-old age group. Average infection age in Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Cali and Medellin was 10.68 to 11.97 years-old.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was high anti-HAV prevalence in the young-adult population, average infection age being 10.69 to 11.97 years-old, thereby presenting a similar pattern to that of developing regions having intermediate level of endemicity.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de investigaciones Clínicas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia. cjrinconr@bt.unal.edu.co
authors.forename: Carlos J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Rincón
authors.forename: Nelcy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Malagón
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mariño
authors.forename: Jose A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Mojica
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: de la Hoz-Restrepo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003105:Colombia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D015233:Models, Statistical; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies