[Sero-epidemiology of hepatitis A: alcoholic patients are a group at risk].

Objectives: The possibility of "community-acquired" viral infection has been suggested in alcoholics. In order to assess this hypothesis, we evaluated the prevalence of antibodies against hepatitis A virus, a oro-fecally transmitted virus, in heavy drinkers.
Patients and Methods: We retrospectively studied 258 heavy drinkers, 188 males and 70 females, divided into sub-groups of increasing age, and compared them to 277 similarly classified blood donors.
Results: The prevalence of serum anti-hepatitis A antibodies was significantly higher in alcoholics than in controls (64.7 vs 52.3%, P < 0.01). The difference was particularly marked in patients younger than 45 years old (56.2 vs 39.1%, P < 0.01). In the alcoholics, there was no correlation between the prevalence of anti-hepatitis A antibodies and the socioeconomic level, the quantity of alcohol ingested, or the severity of the underlying liver disease.
Conclusion: These results suggest that alcoholism is, per se, a risk factor for viral infections.