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. 2007 Feb;135(2):270-3.
doi: 10.1017/S0950268806006753. Epub 2006 Jul 3.

Hepatitis A virus in urban sewage from two Mediterranean countries

R M Pintó  1 , D Alegre, A Domínguez, W M El-Senousy, G Sánchez, C Villena, M I Costafreda, L Aragonès, A Bosch
Affiliations

Hepatitis A virus in urban sewage from two Mediterranean countries

R M Pintó et al. Epidemiol Infect. 2007 Feb.

Abstract

Molecular methods for the detection and typing of hepatitis A virus (HAV) strains in sewage were applied to determine its distribution in Cairo and Barcelona. The study revealed the occurrence of different patterns of hepatitis A endemicity in each city. The circulating strains characterized, whether in Cairo or Barcelona, were genotype IB. The effects of a child vaccination programme and the increase in the immigrant population on the overall hepatitis A occurrence in Barcelona were evaluated. While vaccination contributed to a significant decrease in the number of clinical cases, the huge recent immigration flow has probably been responsible for the re-emergence of the disease in the last year of study, in the form of small outbreaks among the non-vaccinated population.

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Figures

Fig
Fig
Hepatitis A cases for the period 1998–2002 in Barcelona. Hepatitis A is a notifiable disease. Weeks 1–52 (1998); weeks 53–104 (1999); weeks 105–156 (2000); weeks 157–208 (2001); weeks 209–260 (2002). Raw sewage sampling started at week 25 with a gap between weeks 133–152. Asterisks denote positive detection of HAV in raw sewage.
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