Impact of the mandatory Hepatitis A immunization program: before and after the vaccine in Ankara, Central of Turkey

Özet

In Turkey Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection is considered to be moderateendemic. Hepatitis A vaccine was included in the mandatory vaccinationschedule of Turkey on November 2012. We aimed to evaluate the cases of HAVinfection followed in Ankara, which is located in the center of Central Anatolia,retrospectively according to the date of the administration of the mandatoryhepatitis A vaccine. A total of 272 children followed-up between January 2008and December 2015 for HAV infection in five separate hospitals were enrolledto the study. There were 200 (68.2%) cases in the pre-vaccination group, 72(31.74%) cases in the post-vaccination group, and 55.1% were male in total.The immunization status were as follow; 89.7% (n = 244) unvaccinated, 0.4%(n = 1) vaccinated and 9.9% (n = 27) with unknown immune status. Therewas a statistically significant difference between the groups in hospitalizationrates, but no statistically significant differences in hospitalization indications,length of hospital stay, complication types and proportions, and normalizationperiod of transaminases. The national hepatitis A immunization program inTurkey has had a significant impact when the targeted population is considered,with suggestive herd protection effects.