Tex Med

Elevated hepatitis A and E seroprevalence rates in a Texas/Mexico border community.

Year 1998
Redlinger T. O'Rourke K. Nickey L. Martinez G.
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso 79968, USA.
Two seroprevalence studies of viral hepatitis A and hepatitis E were conducted in El Paso, Tex, and Cd Juarez, Mexico. Subjects were randomly selected, low-income pregnant women. Blood from 557 women in El Paso and 307 women in Cd Juarez, obtained from routine prenatal testing, was analyzed for antibodies to hepatitis A and hepatitis E. Women from both cities showed high seroprevalence rates of hepatitis A (75.8% in El Paso and 96.1% in Cd Juarez). Rates increased significantly by age, with 100% of women in Cd Juarez older than 28 years testing positive. Nationality and ethnicity were significantly associated with hepatitis A seroprevalence: Mexican nationals, 96.1%; US Hispanics, 78.8%; and US Caucasians, 36.4% (P < .001). With respect to hepatitis E, 0.4% of women in El Paso and 1.6% of women in Cd Juarez tested positive for anti-HEV. The rate of hepatitis A seroprevalence was higher for women with lower educational levels and for women residing in crowded households, but these findings were not statistically significant.