Hepatitis a seropositivity among first-year students of the medical university in Isfahan,Iran

Background: students of medicine are prone to contact with various infectious agents such as hepatitis a virus (hav). infection with hav may lead to morbidity and in rare cases,mortality. we evaluated the seroprevalence of hav among 1st‑year medical students to assess the necessity of vaccination/preventive immunoglobulin in this at-risk population. methods: this cross‑sectional study was carried out in 2007 among 403 1st-year medical students in isfahan,iran. participants filled out a questionnaire including items on demographic characteristics,medical history,and hygiene. then,the anti-hav igg antibody was assessed using the elisa method (diagnostic bioprobes,dia‑pro,milan,italy). results: among the 403 students invited to attend the study,361 ones (89.5%) agreed to participate (61.1% female),with a mean age of 19.8 ± 2.6 years. of the participants,272 (75.3%) students were seropositive. seropositivity was not associated with gender (p = 0.222),but was associated with the number of family members (p < 0.001),residence place (p = 0.003),age (p < 0.001),and the type of drinking water (p = 0.008). conclusions: one of the four medical college students of our society is prone to hepatitis a infection. accordingly,vaccination/ preventive immunoglobulin is suggested for this population; however,whether a prior serological screening is cost‑effective needs further evaluation by epidemiologic data from our society. © 2014,isfahan university of medical sciences(iums). all rights reserved.