Serological markers of hepatitis A, B and C viruses in rural communities of the semiarid Brazilian Northeast

In the village of Cavunge, located in a dry tropical, semiarid rural region of the state of Bahia, Brazil, a sentinel study on viral hepatitis is underway. We report on the first part of the study. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of serological markers for hepatitis A, B and C in the village. Cross sectional study. Blood samples were tested for serological markers of hepatitis A (HAV), B (HBV) and C (HCV) through ELISA-III assay. In HBsAg and anti-HCV carriers, HCV-RNA and HBV-DNA were checked by PCR. The prevalence of anti-HAV IgG was 83.3% (1,210/1,452), being hig...