Hepatitis A Virus Antibodies in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B and C; A Cross-Sectional Study in Egyptian Patients.

Background: Acute viral hepatitis A has a wide range of presentation; it may result in mild symptoms and self-limited disease or lead to fulminant liver cell failure. It infects 1.4 million people worldwide annually. Super-infection of HAV on top of chronic viral infections, including HBV, HCV, HIV, and dengue virus, or even chronic non-viral liver disease may affect the natural course of the basic disease and lead to fulminant liver failure and higher mortality rate. Aim of the work: To detect the seroprevalence of previous HAV infection in chronic hepatitis B and C patients in Assiut to clarify its effect on these patients and the different impacts of HAV infection on hepatitis B and hepatitis C patients. Results : 235 patients (94 %) were HAV IgG positive, and 15 (6%) were negative. The Child-Pugh score showed more deterioration in HAV IgG-positive patients than negative patients. Of 235 HAV IgG-positive patients, 160 (68%) were HCV antibody-positive, and 75 (32%) were HBsAg positive. Patients with HAV/HCV have more impaired liver functions and lower Child-Pugh scores than HAV/HBV patients. Conclusion : Our study showed that the prevalence of HAV infection in chronic liver disease patients is very high, as (94%) of them were positive for HAV IgG antibody. This high prevalence was associated with a significant deterioration in liver functions in chronic liver disease patients, leading to a worse prognosis. Also, we found that HAV/HCV patients showed more deteriorated liver functions than HAV/HBV patients, lower Child-Pugh