Conference reportHepatitis A and E: Update on prevention and epidemiology
Introduction
In March 2009, the Viral Hepatitis Prevention Board (VHPB) organized a meeting to review the epidemiology of both hepatitis A and hepatitis E and to determine the status of prevention of these two diseases. For hepatitis A, the specific objectives were to provide feedback from the global meeting held in Miami, Florida, in December 2007, which posed the question “Has the time come to control hepatitis A globally?”; to give an update on epidemiology and prevention; to draw lessons for western Europe and the WHO European Region; and to identify future initiatives and related topics. For hepatitis E, the objectives were to provide an overview of the virology, to review the disease and its epidemiology globally, including zoonotic transmission of hepatitis E virus, to assess its emergence in non-endemic/endemic countries, and to examine the prospects for a hepatitis E vaccine.
Section snippets
Epidemiology
As the broad epidemiological picture of hepatitis A changes, the public health importance of the disease is increasingly being recognized. It is a significant cause of morbidity globally, even if the mortality rate due to hepatitis A is low (improved intensive care and transplantation have contributed to the reduction in deaths). Although the basic routes of transmission are well understood – from person-to-person, and through contaminated food and water – and effective and safe vaccines exist,
Epidemiology
Water-borne epidemics of hepatitis have been known in Africa and Asia for a long time, but hepatitis E was only recognized as a distinct human disease in 1980 through the application of serological tests that ruled out hepatitis. Reporting of hepatitis E is not consistent between countries; it is not notifiable in for example the UK and USA, but is in, for instance, Australia, Canada, Germany and Hong Kong.
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is now established as a major cause of sporadic cases as well as
Acknowledgements
The Viral Hepatitis Prevention Board is supported by unrestricted educational grants from GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Sanofi Pasteur MSD and several European Universities and other institutes.
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