An outbreak of hepatitis A in a day-care center: Immunoprophylaxis with human immunoglobulin

Abstract Background : An outbreak of seven cases of hepatitis A (HA) occurred in a day-care center. Five of the cases were children attending the center, one was a nurse and one was the mother of a child. It is probable that the first case with HA was a male child infected by an unknown source.
Methods and Results: Human immunoglobulin (HIG) was administered to both children and staff at the center following which there were no new cases of infection among in-center contacts. However, a new case of HA among household contacts developed 3 weeks following the treatment of in-center contacts.
Conclusions : The outbreak may have been prevented if the sibling (case 2) of the source case of infection (case 1) had been given HIG as soon as infection had been confirmed. Additionally, the data suggest that HIG for prevention of HA should be given not only to children but also to their parents.