Study on the incidence of Hepatitis A virus in human and raw milk in Sohag city

Helal, Hanan Gamal; Shaker, Eman Mokhtar; Elmahallawy, Ehab Kotb; Aboelmaaty, Amal Mahmoud; Hassanain, Alshimaa Ahmed

doi:10.21608/ijcvr.2025.355990.1017

Study on the incidence of Hepatitis A virus in human and raw milk in Sohag city

Document Type : Research article

Authors

¹ Demonstrator, Zoonoses Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sohag University

² Professor of Health Inspection of Foods, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sohag University

³ Associate professor of Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sohag University.

⁴ Professor of Reproduction Physiology, Animal Reproduction and AI Department, Veterinary Division, National Research Center

⁵ Professor of Zoonoses, Head Department of Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sohag University

10.21608/ijcvr.2025.355990.1017

Abstract

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is the common cause of acute Hepatitis A. It is one of the primary causes of food-borne outbreaks especially consumption of raw milk. This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the incidence of HAV antibodies (IgM & IgG) in raw milk collected from dairy cows and serum samples of patients and detect the risk factors associated with HAV infection. Raw milk (44) samples and blood serum samples (90) from patients were subjected to ELISA using commercial kits for IgM and IgG antibodies. Variables associated with HAV infection were assessed using bivariate logistic regression analysis. Incidences of HAV-IgM and IgG in raw milk samples were 15.9% (7/44) and 2.3% (1/44), respectively, but both antibodies were not detected together. While incidences of HAV-IgM and IgG in human serum samples were 10% (9/90) and 92.2% (83/90), respectively and both antibodies were detected in 8.9% (8/90) samples. These results suggest that raw milk from infected dairy cows constitute a potential zoonotic risk to humans which pointed out the importance of continuous surveillance to reduce the burden of HAV that represent major public health threat. Statistical analysis showed that previous infection with hepatic diseases (HCV & HBV), blood transfusion, contact with animals, the source of drinking water, the source of food and sewage disposal are risk factors for HAV-IgM infection (p. value < .05), while gender, presence of pregnancy in females and the source of drinking water are predisposing factor for HAV-IgG infection (p. value < .05).

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