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Background: Hepatitis A is an enterically transmitted disease that still remains endemic in many developing countries. In some countries improvements in living conditions have recently led to changes in epidemiology of hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection. This study was performed to determine the serologic frequency of hepatitis A infection among children visited in pediatric hospitals of Tehran, in 2002. Materials and Methods: The study group included 1018 children. These children were visited in four major pediatric hospitals of Tehran. The children were divided into three age groups. Groups 1 (6 months - 4.9 years n=469), Group 2 (5.0-9.9 years n=290), and Group 3 (10.0-14.9 years n=259). The level of serum anti-HAV IgG was measured by commercial ELISA kits in all samples. The data were analysed with chi- square test. Results: In all subjects, serologic frequency of hepatitis A was 22.3% (95% CI: 19.7 - 24.9%). There was no significant difference between boys and girls regarding their seropositivity for HAV (22.2% versus 22.5%). The frequency of hepatitis A infection was not different between three age groups (21.1% group 1, 21% group 2 and 25.9% group 3). Conclusions: Epidemiology of hepatitis A has been changed at least in some urban areas in Iran. For prevention of sudden epidemies of hepatitis A due to neighboring of highly contaminated areas, some changes in prophylaxis and immunization methods against hepatitis A are recommended.

Keywords: KEYWORDS: Hepatitis A, Epidemiology, Serologic evaluation

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