Hepatitis A antibodies in two socioeconomically distinct populations of São Paulo, Brazil

• Main Authors: Claudio Sergio Pannuti, João Silva de Mendonça, Manoel J. M. Carvalho, Gabriel Wolf Oselka, Vicente Amato Neto
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo 1985-06-01
• Series: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0036-46651985000300009&lng=en&tlng=en

To evaluate the prevalence of antibody against hepatitis A in two socioeconomically distinct populations of a developing country, 540 serum specimens from children and adults living in São Paulo, Brazil, were tested for IgG anti HAV by a commercial radioimunoassay (Havab, Abbott Laboratories). The prevalence of anti-HAV in low socioeconomic level subjects was 75.0% in children 2-11 years old and 100.0% in adults, whereas in middle socioeconomic level significantly lower prevalences were observed (40.3% in chidren 2-11 years old and 91.9% in adults). Voluntary blood donors of middle socioeconomic level showed a prevalence of 90.4%. These data suggest that hepatitis A infection remains a highly endemic disease in São Paulo, Brazil.