Hepatitis Type A and Hemodialysis

doi:10.1059/0003-4819-87-1-8

Hepatitis Type A and Hemodialysis

A Seroepidemiologic Study in 15 U.S. Centers

New York, New York

Abstract

Four hundred sixty patients and staff from 15 U.S. dialysis centers were surveyed by the immune adherence hemagglutination technique for antibody to hepatitis A antigen (anti-HA). The age-standardized anti-HA prevalence was 42.9% in patients and 42.1% in staff. These rates are almost identical to those of socioeconomically comparable urban volunteer blood donors never exposed to dialysis settings. There was no correlation between anti-HA prevalences and duration of dialysis treatment or employment. Among 100 patients and staff followed for 1 year 92% to 94% did not change their anti-HA status. The prevalence of anti-HA was identical in subjects with past histories of multiple blood transfusions or accidental inoculations with blood-contaminated instruments and in those without such histories. We conclude that hepatitis A virus rarely if ever spreads by parenteral mechanisms, that there is no epidemiologic evidence confirming the existence of chronic hepatitis A viremic carrier states, and that hemodialysis does not play a significant role in the spread of type A hepatitis.

Article and Author Information

▸From the Laboratories of Epidemiology and Virology of the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute of the New York Blood Center, The Columbia University School of Public Health; New York, New York; and the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health; Bethesda, Maryland.
Grant support: Grant No. HL-09011-13 and Contract No. C2101-201 from the National Heart and Lung Institute, National Institutes of Health; Bethesda, Maryland.
▸Requests for reprints should be addressed to Wolf Szmuness, M.D.; Laboratory of Epidemiology, New York Blood Center; 310 East 67 Street; New York, NY 10021.
- Received December 13, 1976.
- Accepted March 28, 1977.