Prevalence of hepatitis A virus risk factors in a very low endemic country, Switzerland

We aimed to estimate the population-based lifetime exposure to guidelines-based hepatitis A virus (HAV) risk factors in a country model with very low HAV endemicity. A cross-sectional survey among randomly selected residents of Switzerland aged 20–60 years was performed assessing the HAV exposure risk according to the U.S. and the Swiss guidelines. The adjusted prevalence of lifetime exposure to HAV-associated risk exceeded 80% with travel being the most important risk factor. In addition, not only the HAV vaccination coverage was low but also lack of awareness was widespread. As projections indicate a further increase in travel volume resulting imported HAV infections with subsequent transmission among the resident population are a public health concern and a universal HAV vaccination strategy for HAV should be evaluated.