1. Infection with hepatitis A and TT viruses and socioeconomic status in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Author
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Saback FL, Palmer TE, Sabino RR, Carvalho SM, Amorim LM, Gaspar AM, Oliveira ML, Yoshida CF, and Niel C
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Blood Donors, Brazil epidemiology, DNA, Viral blood, Developing Countries, Female, Health Personnel, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Risk Factors, Seroepidemiologic Studies, Socioeconomic Factors, DNA Virus Infections epidemiology, Hepatitis A epidemiology, Torque teno virus genetics
- Abstract
The prevalence of antibodies directed against the enterically transmitted hepatitis A virus (HAV) was measured in 2 groups of people living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Of 1,056 health care workers (HCWs), 778 (73.7%) were anti-HAV positive. A high prevalence of anti-HAV antibodies (85.7%) was also found among 274 voluntary blood donors (BDs). TT virus (TTV) is a DNA virus that has been found in the sera of patients with post-transfusion hepatitis of unknown etiology. Occurrence of virus shedding suggests that the fecal-oral route may be an important mode of TTV transmission, particularly in the developing world. The presence of TTV DNA was analyzed by PCR in the sera of 191 HCWs and 151 BDs. TTV was detected in 65.4% of HCWs and 79.5% of BDs. In both groups, a family income of < US$400 per month and a level of education of < 11 y of schooling were found to be risk factors for HAV infection. Furthermore, a low family income was associated with TTV viremia in the HCW group. However, the presence of TTV DNA was associated with neither low level of education nor anti-HAV positivity.
- Published
- 2001
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