Abstract
Objectives
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.
Conclusion
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.
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Contributors: VS, BBL, RK and MKS contributed to data collection and writing the initial draft of manuscript; EG, RK and SA conceptualized the study, and supervised the editing and revision of manuscript. All authors approved the final version of manuscript, and are accountable for all aspects related to the study.
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Sood, V., Lal, B.B., Gupta, E. et al. Hepatitis A Virus-related Pediatric Liver Disease Burden and its Significance in the Indian Subcontinent. Indian Pediatr 56, 741–744 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-019-1640-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-019-1640-1