Sood and colleagues conducted a study to assess the Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection-related pediatric liver disease burden in the Indian sub-continent.

Investigators obtained the hospital records of 431 children, aged below 18 years, diagnosed with acute HAV infection during 2011 to 2018 and analyzed them. In addition, a seroprevalence study was done on 2599 participants - 696 children and 1903 adults.

HAV infection was responsible for nearly half of all acute onset icteric illness - 48.6% of acute hepatitis and 46.5% (92/198) of acute liver failure cases - with significant morbidity and mortality. Seroprevalence data revealed 16.2% of children aged 10-18 years of age, and 10.3% of adults aged 18-30 years were susceptible to HAV infection.

Investigators concluded that HAV infection has a huge contribution to the overall pediatric liver disease burden. Additionally, a large proportion of people remain susceptible to HAV infection even after 10 years of age.

Source: Sood V, Lal BB, Gupta E, et al. Hepatitis A Virus-related Pediatric Liver Disease Burden and Its Significance in the Indian Subcontinent. Indian Pediatr. 2019 Sep 15;56(9):741-744.