Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection is usually mild in childhood but more severe in adolescents and adults'. An estimated 1.4 million cases of HAV infection occur annually in the world. The case-fatality rate among patients of all ages is approximately 0.3%, but tends to be higher among older persons (approximately 2% over 40 years of age). HAV is a notifiable disease on weekly basis where health centers and hospitals report cases to the health directorates which in turn report electronically to the Communicable Diseases Directorate, with subsequent paper reporting of detailed epidemiological description. The due time is Tuesday next week. Diagnosis is clinically based and depends on case definition..A previous study in Jordan revealed that reporting rate increased from 6.4 in 2004 to 7.9 in 2008/100,000, the highest reporting rate was in the North region mainly Mafraq.
Objective
The study aims to asses' HAV surveillance in Mafraq Health directorate, and to determine whether the increase in reporting is related to a public health issue or is a result of a relatively good surveillance.