A sero-epidemiologic study of a water-borne epidemic of viral hepatitis in Kolhapur City India.

摘要

Between February and March 1981 an epidemic of hepatitis occurred in Kolhapur City, Maharashtra State, India. Approximately 1200 cases of jaundice were reported; more than 300 patients were hospitalized and three died. The epidemiological investigations showed a distinct concentration of cases in municipal ward E of the city. Investigations of the ward E water supply system disclosed gross contamination of raw water with sewage at source. The serological studies revealed that the aetiological agent responsible for this epidemic was neither hepatitis A virus nor hepatitis B virus but was likely to have been due to a non-A, non-B hepatitis virus.