title: Population Movement and Virus Spreading: HEV Spreading in a Pilgrimage City, Mashhad in Northeast Iran; an Example.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) infection is a significant public health concern and responsible for large outbreaks of acute hepatitis in poor sanitary and living conditions.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the impact of population movements on virus spreading, a large-scale population-based survey was performed in a pilgrimage- tourism area, the great Mashhad, capital city of Khorasan province.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was carried out among 1582 randomly selected individuals from general population of Mashhad, north east of Iran, between May to September 2009. Serum samples were tested for total anti-HEV antibody using a specific enzyme linked immunoassay (ELISA) kit.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of HEV infection was 14.2% (225/1582) with a maximum of 25.5 % (14/55) in densely populated areas. The highest prevalence was observed in visitant areas (≥ 20%) near the holly shrine with crowded hotels and inns. The differences between these areas and other districts were statistically significant (P < 0.001). The findings indicated that 13.2% (95/718) of males and 15.0% (130/864) of females were HEV positive; this difference is not significant. Seroprevalence increases with age rising , from 12.8% in subjects less than five years to 28.6% in individuals with more than 65 years old. Although, there were no meaningful differences between HEV seropositivity and socio-economic status, Illiterate individuals were significantly at higher risk for infection than educated persons (P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings demonstrated that, high prevalence of HEV is related to populated district, which can reach to the highest rate in hotels and inns close to visitants. Traditional sanitation and water supplying systems are the second important factor for the virus transmission. Therefore, it can be concluded that such areas need efficient surveillance systems to prevent the spreading of infectious diseases.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for HIV/AIDS, HTLV and Viral Hepatitis, Iranian Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR), Mashhad, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Sanaz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmadi Ghezeldasht
authors.forename: Rahele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Miri
authors.forename: Mohamadreza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hedayatimoghadam
authors.forename: Aliakbar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shamsian
authors.forename: Hamidreza
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bidkhori
authors.forename: Fahad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fathimoghadam
authors.forename: Seyyed Abdorrahim
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Rezaee
keywords: Hepatitis E Virus; Population; Viruses