Outbreak of hepatitis A among men who have sex with men in Barcelona, Spain, September 2008 – March 2009

C Tortajada; P G de Olalla; R M Pinto; A Bosch; J Caylà

doi:10.2807/ese.14.15.19175-en

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Outbreak of hepatitis A among men who have sex with men in Barcelona, Spain, September 2008 – March 2009
C Tortajada¹ , P G de Olalla¹ , R M Pinto² , A Bosch² , J Caylà¹
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Affiliations: ¹ Public Health Agency of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain ² Enteric Virus Laboratory of the Department of Microbiology of the University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

Correspondence:
C Tortajada
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Citation style for this article: Tortajada C, de Olalla P G, Pinto R M, Bosch A, Caylà J. Outbreak of hepatitis A among men who have sex with men in Barcelona, Spain, September 2008 – March 2009. Euro Surveill. 2009;14(15):pii=19175. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.14.15.19175-en Received: 18 Mar 2009

Abstract

Between 1 September 2008 and 9 March 2009, 150 cases of hepatitis A were reported in Barcelona, representing a threefold increase compared with the same period in the previous two years. The majority of the cases occurred in adult men, including 87 who reported having sex with men. This indicated the possibility of an outbreak ongoing in the population of men who have sex with men (MSM) and emphasised the need to target this community with more effective vaccination programmes.