Prevalence of anti-HAV and anti-HEV IgM among employees in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport

Objective To examine the prevalence of anti-hepatitis A virus immunoglobulin M(HAV-IgM)and anti-hepatitis E virus immunoglobulin M(HEV-IgM)among employees in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport for the assessment of HAV and HEV infection among the employees.Methods Serum samples of 35 995 physical examinees from the airport were collected for the determination of HAV-IgM and HEV-IgM with enzyme-linked immunoassay(ELISA)in March 2010 through December 2013;chi-square test and linear regression analysis were used in data analyses.Results The positive rate of HAV-IgM was 0.328% and that of the HEV-IgM was 0.253%.There were significant seasonal differences in the positive rate of HAV-IgM(χ²=21.86,P<0.001),with a higher positive rate in the summer and autumn and a lower rate in the spring.No seasonal difference in HEV-IgM positive rate was observed(χ²=3.67,P=0.299).Linear regression analyses showed that the HAV-IgM positive rate increased with the increment of age(t=4.360,P=0.049),but no obvious linear relationship between HEV-IgM positive rate and age(t=2.034,P=2.034) and between-gender difference in HAV-IgM and HEV-IgM positive rates were observed(χ²=0.023,P=0.880;χ²=1.641,P=0.200).Conclusion The prevalence of HAV-IgM and HEV-IgM are high,with seasonal difference for HAV-IgM and positive correlation to age for HEV-IgM among employees of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.