Hepatitis A Virus Outbreak in Eastern Ethiopia, 2017: Descriptive Analysis

Hepatitis A virus is a non-enveloped, single-stranded, linear ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus Hepatovirus from the Picornaviridae. It is transmitted by ingestion of food contaminated by fecal matter. Gastrointestinal symptoms with Fever, fatigue, yellowing of the skin or eyes, light-colored feces and dark-colored urine are among symptoms. It is a cause of death for 15 000 annually around the globe. The objective of this study is to describe hepatitis A outbreak in in terms of person, place and time. We investigated the outbreak to describe the cases and to identify the etiology. Medical records and line list were reviewed and descriptive data analysis was performed. Serum samples were tested by Immunoglobulin M (IgM) enzyme linked Immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods. We included all 81 cases with acute jaundice syndrome diagnosis and analyzed the data using Microsoft Excel. A total of 81 persons were affected with the acute jaundice syndrome. Among those, 37 (46%) were females and 44 (54%) were males. The median age of patients was 7 years with range 1-40 years old. The overall attack rate of the outbreak was 27 per 100,000. The age of patients ranged from 1 to 40 years. Out of 18 tested samples, 11 (61%) were positive for Hepatitis A. From the total cases listed, 44 (45%) were from the local community and 37 (46%) were from the internally displaced people (IDP). The outbreak lasted from February to August 2017. Hepatitis A was confirmed affecting people below 40 years of ages in Dolo zone, Somali region, Ethiopia in 2017 and there will be no way that it cannot cause illness again.