[Imported acute hepatitis in Spanish travelers to tropical countries]

Among the immunizable diseases, viral hepatitis is the most frequently diagnosed in travellers. The epidemiology and the clinical presentation of the imported viral hepatitis among patients in the Tropical Medicine Unit of Hospital Clínic (Barcelona) are studied in this article. A retrospective review of 47 viral hepatitis in Spanish travellers seen during the period 1988-1991 is presented, representing 2.47% of all diagnosis. Only a third of the patients were hepatitis A cases. The duration of the trip was significantly shorter in those who acquired hepatitis of the A and non-A--non-B types. Africa (60% cases), India and South East Asia (17%) and Central America (16%) were considered areas of risk. The B, C and non-A--non-B hepatitis types had a more silent clinical and biological presentation. Gathered data confirm the importance of hepatitis as an imported disease, the partial protection of the Spanish population against hepatitis A and the need to introduce this infection among the advice to be given in a travellers clinic.