Recent epidemiological status and vaccination of hepatitis A in Korea

Abstract

Hepatitis A is a vaccine preventable disease. Improvement in the socio-economic status and general public health of Korea over the last 30 years has led to a shift in the seroprevalence of hepatitis A. This lowered endemicity has caused an upward shift in the average age of infection, resulting in a larger number of individuals at risk of clinically significant hepatitis A infection. Now in Korea, for those aged less than 10 years old, the anti-HAV prevalence was above 50%, which is mainly contributed to the result of vaccination. However, the prevalences of antibody in the 10s and 20s were 10 to 30%, respectively, which are significantly lower than those in other age groups. As people in this age group are at high risk for an epidemic of hepatitis A, a catch-up immunization may be considered. Also, routine immunization should be considered in the near future after cost-effectiveness studies to control the disease burden of hepatitis A.