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A population-based prevalence study of hepatitis A, B and C virus using oral fluid in Flanders, Belgium

  • Infections Diseases
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Abstract

Ten years after the first seroprevalence study performed in Flanders, the aim of this cross sectional study was to follow the evolution of hepatitis A, B and C prevalence. The prevalence of hepatitis A antibodies, hepatitis B surface antigen and hepatitis C antibodies was measured in oral fluid samples collected by postal survey. Using the National Population Register, an incremental sampling plan was developed to obtain a representative sampling of the general population. A total of 24,000 persons were selected and 6,000 persons among them contacted in a first wave. With 1834 participants a response rate of 30.6% was achieved. The prevalence was weighted for age and was 20.2% (95% CI 19.43–21.08) for hepatitis A, 0.66% (95% CI 0.51–0.84) for hepatitis B surface antigen and 0.12% (95% CI 0.09–0.39) for hepatitis C. The prevalence of hepatitis A and C in the Flemish population is lower in 2003 compared with the results of the study performed in 1993. The difference may be due to a real decrease of the diseases but also to differences in the methodology. The prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen remains stable. Considering the 30% response rate and the high quality of the self-collected samples as reflect of a good participation of the general population, saliva test for prevalence study is a good epidemiological monitoring tool.

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Abbreviations

IPH:

Scientific Institute of Public Health

PSU:

Primary Sampling Units

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Flemish Community, Belgium. The participating hospitals at the validation part of this study are University of Antwerp (Professor P. Michielsen), University of Ghent (Professor H. Van Vlierberghe) and Catholic University of Louvain (Professor Y. Horsmans).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Epidemiology, Scientific Institute of Public Health, Juliette Wytsmanstreet 14, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Sophie Quoilin, Veronik Hutse, Hans Vandenberghe, Françoise Claeys, Frank Van Loock & Herman Van Oyen

  2. Department of Microbiology, Scientific Institute of Public Health, Brussels, Belgium

    Els Verhaegen, Liesbet De Cock & Robert Vranckx

  3. Surveillance of Infectious Diseases, Public Health Surveillance of Flanders, Flanders, Belgium

    Geert Top

  4. Unit of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium

    Pierre Van Damme

Authors
  1. Sophie Quoilin
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  2. Veronik Hutse
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  3. Hans Vandenberghe
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  4. Françoise Claeys
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  5. Els Verhaegen
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  7. Frank Van Loock
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  8. Geert Top
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  9. Pierre Van Damme
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  11. Herman Van Oyen
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Correspondence to Sophie Quoilin.

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Quoilin, S., Hutse, V., Vandenberghe, H. et al. A population-based prevalence study of hepatitis A, B and C virus using oral fluid in Flanders, Belgium. Eur J Epidemiol 22, 195–202 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-007-9105-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-007-9105-6

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