Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Hepatitis A seroprevalence in homosexual and heterosexual men.
  1. R Nandwani,
  2. S Caswell,
  3. F Boag,
  4. A G Lawrence,
  5. J C Coleman
  1. Department of Genitourinary Medicine, Claude Nicol Centre, Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, UK.

    Abstract

    OBJECTIVE--To determine the seroprevalence of hepatitis A antibodies in homosexual and heterosexual males attending a genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinic. DESIGN--Prospective study of male patients recruited from a GUM clinic during a 10 week period in 1993. SETTING--Central London outpatient GUM department at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. SUBJECTS--255 patients were recruited, comprising 185 homosexual and 70 heterosexual males. Ninety two men were known to be HIV-positive, of whom 89 were homosexual. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Serum samples were screened for both IgM and IgG antibodies to hepatitis A by enzyme linked immunoassay. Results were matched to an anonymously completed questionnaire. RESULTS--81 of the 255 subjects (31.8%) had been exposed to hepatitis A, two of whom were IgM positive. There were similar hepatitis A seroprevalence rates in homosexual (32.4%) and heterosexual men (30.0%). Although 48.1% of the homosexual men were known to be HIV-positive, compared with 4.3% of the heterosexuals. Hepatitis A seroprevalence remained comparable in both groups after patients with known HIV infection were excluded from the analysis. 11.4% of the heterosexual men admitted to oral-anal sexual contact compared with 62.2% of the homosexual men. This sexual practice was not associated with antibodies or a past history of hepatitis A exposure. CONCLUSIONS--There was no detectable difference in hepatitis A seroprevalence between male homosexual and heterosexual GUM clinic attenders, despite a much higher level of oral-anal sexual activity among the homosexual population.

    Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.