Tourist Hepatitis and Gamma Globulin Prophylaxis

Abstract

Millions of tourists from Northern Europe visit the Mediterranean basin each year. Some of them provide themselves with gamma globulin prophylaxis against hepatitis A before departure. In Sweden about 50% of these travellers receive prophylaxis which means that about half a million Swedish tourists are injected with gamma globulin each year. The risk of contracting hepatitis A in South or East Europe without prophylaxis seems to be around 1/3000 travellers according to calculations presented in this report. With gamma globulin prophylaxis the risk seems almost negligible.