Aim: In most cases, hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection causes a self-limiting benign acute hepatitis which confers permanent acquired immunity. However, in patients with pre-existing chronic hepatitis, HAV superinfection can cause acute hepatitis with severe progression leading to a fulminant form or linked to the risk of a rapid deterioration of hepatic function. For such a reason, some Authors recommend anti-HAV vaccination for subjects with HCV-correlated chronic hepatitis before the initiation of peg-Interferon and Ribavirin treatment. Subsequently, the real prevalence of IgG anti-HAV antibodies in patients with HC HCV-related and in healthy subjects from Eastern Sicily has been verified.
Patients and methods: In 254 subjects affected by HC HCV-related it has been carried out the research of antibodies IgG and IgM anti HAV. The control group was formed by 685 non hepatopathic subjects, subdivided in range of ages.
Results: 97.64% out of the patients affected by HC HCV related exhibit antibodies IgG anti HAV, while only 2.36% of them was negative. The prevalence of infection in the control group has been stratified in relation to different ranges of age of the people taken into consideration.
Conclusions: The results obtained in this study performed in our geographical area, let us to suggest that it is not necessary the anti HAV vaccination during the phase of pre-treatment for HC HCV-related.