Vikrant Sood1, Bikrant Bihari Lal1, Ekta Gupta2, Rajeev Khanna1, Manish K Siloliya1, Seema Alam3. 1. Department of Pediatric Hepatology Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, India. 2. Department of Clinical Virology, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, India. 3. Department of Pediatric Hepatology Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, India. Correspondence to: Dr Seema Alam, Professor and Head, Department of Pediatric Hepatology, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110 070, India. seema_alam@hotmail.com.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To study the Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection-related pediatric liver disease burden. METHODS: Hospital records of 431 children (age <18 y) diagnosed to be suffering from acute HAV infection during 2011 to 2018 were extracted and analyzed. Additionally, a seroprevalence study was done on 2599 participants (696 children and 1903 adults). RESULTS: HAV infection accounted for about half (48.6% of acute hepatitis and 46.5% (92/198) of acute liver failure cases) of all acute onset icteric illness, with significant morbidity and mortality. As per seroprevalence data, 16.2% of children between 10-18 years of age, and 10.3% of adults aged 18-30 years remained susceptible to HAV infection. CONCLUSIONS: HAV infection is the major contributor the overall pediatric liver disease burden. A significant proportion of subjects remain susceptible to HAV infection even after 10 years of age. Population-based studies are required to further delineate the epidemiology of HAV infection in India for deciding introduction of HAV vaccine in the national immunization schedule.
OBJECTIVE: To study the Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection-related pediatric liver disease burden. METHODS: Hospital records of 431 children (age <18 y) diagnosed to be suffering from acute HAV infection during 2011 to 2018 were extracted and analyzed. Additionally, a seroprevalence study was done on 2599 participants (696 children and 1903 adults). RESULTS:HAV infection accounted for about half (48.6% of acute hepatitis and 46.5% (92/198) of acute liver failure cases) of all acute onset icteric illness, with significant morbidity and mortality. As per seroprevalence data, 16.2% of children between 10-18 years of age, and 10.3% of adults aged 18-30 years remained susceptible to HAV infection. CONCLUSIONS:HAV infection is the major contributor the overall pediatric liver disease burden. A significant proportion of subjects remain susceptible to HAV infection even after 10 years of age. Population-based studies are required to further delineate the epidemiology of HAV infection in India for deciding introduction of HAV vaccine in the national immunization schedule.