Hepatitis A seropositivity in children 7-14 years city center of Diyarbakır

The prevalence of hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a main cause of morbidity in the society and it is a significant cause of mortality, more frequently seen in later ages. The prevalence of the disease is closely related to the socio-economic conditions and environmental factors. Therefore, it is very important to determine its prevalence in the society and the primary prevention methods and also to develop vaccine policies.This study aims to determine Anti-HAV seropositivity and its association with the environmental factors in children aged 7-14 years from three schools in three regions with different socio-economic background in Diyarbakır city and to establish the prevention methods of the disease. A survey was also conducted to determine the socio-economic background of the children. The mean age of the children was found as 10.5 years. A total of 600 children, 291 males (48.5%) and 309 females (51.5%) were included in the study. The seropositivity was observed as 45.7%. It was shown that this significantly increase with the age. The seropositivity in males (41.2%) and females (49.8%) was significantly different. Besides, it was found that the level of the education of the parents and their incomes, the numbers of sisters/brothers, people sharing the same and its rooms, the type of toilet and the source of the drinking water significantly affect the seropositivity.Consequently, the advanced age, having many sisters/brothers, crowded house live and low socio-economic condition form the risk factors of this disease but the improvement in the socio-economic condition increases the age to encounter with the infection. On the other hand, advancing the level of the education, improvement in the quality of drinking water, infrastructure and sewer system, the importance paid to the necessary personal hygienic precaution and generalization of the vaccination may be significant elements in the prevention of the disease.In conclusion, we assume that increasing the active immunization against HAV infection will reduce the number of susceptible individuals, resulting in an increase in the age to encounter with the infection and hence further related complications can be prevented.