Prevalence rate of HAV in the Malekan city, a retrospective study

Background and Aims: HAV infection is common worldwide and the prevalence rate isdifferent in developing countries .The access to clean water cause to decrease incidence rate.The aims of this research are estimating of age-related prevalence of Anti –HAV andexamine some of the factors that influence its transmission in the community.Methods: In this study, Blood samples of 90(50 women and 40 men) people, were collected.HAV -IgG and HAV- IgM was measured by ELISA method. Data were analyzed by SPSS14.Results: The presence of HAV -IgG was 24.4 %( 22 people) and 2.2 %( 2 person) for HAVIgM. There was no significant difference in HAV prevalence between males and females(25% VS 24%) (10 males and 12 females).The age-specific rates were similar in both sexes.Conclusion: Hepatitis A infection causes no clinical signs and symptoms in over 90% ofinfected cases. There was a serious regional variation in anti-HAV prevalence, the highprevalence (22.8%) in rural (35 vs23) while the low prevalence (9.5%) in urban regions. Thelevel of education had the strongest influence on HAV prevalence .The low overall HAVprevalence confirms that In Iran, endemicity of HAV infection is decreased. Also the patternof HAV is changed in Iran as the prevalence has reduced.