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May 10, 2002

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Hepatitis A Much More Common in U.S. Than Thought"

Reuters Health Information Services (www.reutershealth.com) (05/06/02); Huggins, Charnicia E.

The number of people in the United States who are infected with hepatitis A may be 10 times higher than the number actually reported, according to a study by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  Using a mathematical model to estimate actual cases of hepatitis A by factoring in underreporting by doctors and patients, the CDC's Dr. Gregory L. Armstrong and Dr. Beth P. Bell concluded that an average of about 271,000 hepatitis A infections occurred each year between 1980 and 1999--a figure 10.4 times higher than the actual number reported to the government.  According to their report in the journal Pediatrics, almost 60 percent of these cases were in individuals nine years of age and younger, and less than half had recognizable jaundice symptoms.  Based on the high number of hepatitis A cases among children, Armstrong and Bell suggest that vaccinating the children should have a herd immunity effect that would not only protect the child from infection but also prevent the transmission of the virus to other children and adults.

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