Hepatitis A in Poland in 2017 - epidemic increase cases
AIM
The aim of this article is to describe and assess changes in epidemiological situation of Hepatitis A in Poland in 2017.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
The assessment was based on the information from the individual case questionnaires, aggregated data from the bulletins “Infectious diseases and poisonings in Poland in 2017” and reports from epidemiological investigations in outbreaks of hepatitis A, submitted by the sanitary-epidemiological stations to the Department of Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases and Surveillance in NIPH-NIH.


RESULTS
In 2017 a large increase of HAV cases and hepatitis A incidence was observed in Poland (3006 cases, incidence 7.8 per 100 000) in comparison to 2016 (35; 0.09). Majority of the cases were registered in large cities, where incidence was 3 times higher than in rural areas. Among reported there were 501 cases (16.6% of all cases) selfdeclaring as man who have sex with man (MSM). In course of the year an increasing trend in the number of cases was observed until September and the increase of male to female ratio (m/f) until May. Moreover 251 HAV outbreaks were reported, number of which increased until October and with the increase of m/f ratio in these outbreaks until April. From July to October there was an increase in the number of small outbreaks with m/f ratio equal 1. There were 178 imported cases reported, most of them from European countries- especially Germany and Spain.


SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
In 2017 over 80-fold increase of HAV cases and hepatitis A incidence was observed in comparison to previous years. Available epidemiological data indicate that ongoing HAV outbreak among MSM in Europe reached also Poland, and data from the second part of the year suggest infection spreading in non-MSM part of the population. It is therefore highly indicated that the list of risk groups for which vaccination against hepatitis A is recommended should also be expanded for MSM. To avoid such increase in the number of cases in future it is recommended to introduce vaccinations in risk groups as soon as large international outbreak occurs.
['Polański|Piotr|P|', 'Kucharczyk|Bożena|B|', 'Kondej|Barbara|B|', 'Cielebąk|Ewa|E|', 'Kucharczyk|Agata|A|', 'Sadkowska-Todys|Małgorzata|M|']
D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D002648:Child D002675:Child, Preschool D004196:Disease Outbreaks D005260:Female D006506:Hepatitis A D022362:Hepatitis A Vaccines D006801:Humans D007223:Infant D007231:Infant, Newborn D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D011044:Poland D012042:Registries D012424:Rural Population D014505:Urban Population D055815:Young Adult
hepatitis A Poland 2017 epidemiology HAV MSM