Viral hepatitis A: past, present and future

• Galina N. Karetkina

Abstract

Relevance of hepatitis A is caused by several factors: worldwide prevalence of the infection (including Russia); economic and social Importance; high frequency of disease in children and adults; eruptions; chronic and severe disease possibility; different clinical forms; frequent association with other viral hepatitis and chronic liver diseases, as well as deficiency of major national routine immunization in Russian Federation in spite of high immunogenic vaccines availability. Russia is a region with intermediate hepatitis A endemicity, but the distribution of disease considerably vary within the country regions ranging from 9 to 210 cases per 100 thousand. In the article detailed hepatitis A virus features and hepatitis A virus epidemiology features (including possible parenteral transmission) are illustrated. Emphasizes that in case of hepatitis A liver damage is mainly caused by a cellular immunity. Various manifest forms clinical manifestations is introduced in details, drew attention to the possibility of fulminant form identifying. The methods of hepatitis A modern laboratory diagnosis and prevention are described. The necessity of hepatitis A vaccination inclusion in the national calendar for vaccine and immunization in order to reduce morbidity is shown.

Keywords:hepatitis A, etiology, epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis, specific prophylaxis

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