Prevalence of Viral Hepatitis in Three Public Health Clinics in the Kingston Metropolitan Area, Jamaica, 2022

Viral hepatitis is a global public health concern, yet surveillance data is lacking for many low-middle income countries, particularly in Jamaica where recent prevalence data is lacking. Serum samples were collected from patients attending antenatal (ANC; n = 530), non-communicable disease (NCD; n = 826) and sexually transmitted infection (STI; n = 517) clinics in the Kingston Metropolitan Area. All samples were tested for antibodies to hepatitis A - E viruses using the ABBOTT ARCHITECT to test for HAV IgG, HBV core total Ig, HCV total Ig, HDV total Ig, and HEV IgG, respectively, to assess for previous infection. The seroprevalence of HAV and HBV antibodies were ANC, 61.3%; NCD, 89.4%; STI, 65.4%; and ANC, 7.7%; NCD, 20.8%; STI, 17.2%; respectively, whilst HCV, HDV and HEV antibodies were all ∼1%. The seroprevalence of all types of viral hepatitis increased with age, notably for HAV and HBV. As HBV can cause chronic infections, HBV infection status was determined using the following tests: HBV surface antigen (HBsAg), HBV core IgM, HBV core total Ig, HBV surface antigen Ig. Of the patients testing HBV core total Ig positive, the prevalence of acute HBV infection was noted to be 2.5%, 0%, 0% and chronic HBV infection was 12.5%, 9.6% and 5.1% in the ANC, NCD and STI clinics, respectively. Collectively, our data indicate that public health measures should be focused on HAV and HBV infections in Jamaica, with more robust surveillance and targeted vaccination for populations at risk of infection to limit transmission.