Hepatitis A has been diagnosed in a Roma Sausage and Deli employee, according to the Oneida County, New York Health Department. That restaurant has two locations in Washington Mills and Utica, New York. The employee worked while infectious and may have exposed people who were patrons of the shops.
Sainsbury’s is taking the precautionary action of recalling Taste the Difference Medjool dates because they might be contaminated with Hepatitis A.
| Taste the Difference Medjool dates | |
|---|---|
| Pack size | 200g and 500g |
| Best before | All dates |
These products might be contaminated with Hepatitis A. Symptoms caused by Hepatitis A usually include fever, nausea, abdominal cramps, diarrhoea, dark-coloured urine and jaundice (a yellowing of the skin).
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JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) is investigating two cases of hepatitis A in Jackson County restaurant employees which may have led to possible exposure for customers.
Two employees of Brady’s Steaks and Seafood, 3801 Magnolia St. in Pascagoula have been diagnosed with hepatitis A infection, and worked at the restaurant while potentially infectious. Customers who ate at the restaurant between March 1 and April 3, 2021, may have been exposed to hepatitis A. At this time, there is no indication of an ongoing risk associated with the restaurant.
All individuals who ate at the restaurant between March 1 and April 3 should watch for any possible symptoms of hepatitis A and see their doctor if they become ill. Individuals who ate at the restaurant within the last two weeks should get a hepatitis A vaccination if not previously vaccinated. Vaccination can prevent hepatitis A only if given within 14 days of exposure.
Those who may have eaten at the restaurant within the last two weeks can receive a hepatitis A vaccination free of charge from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 8th at the Jackson County Health Department, 46000 Lt. Eugene J. Majure Drive, in Pascagoula.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) has identified a case of acute hepatitis A virus infection in an Orono, Maine, food service worker. The individual handled food while infectious on the following dates: March 6-9, March 13-16, and March 20-21, 2021.
Epidemiological assessment of the employee’s illness determined that patrons of the establishment may be at risk for hepatitis A infection. Maine CDC recommends that anyone who ate food prepared at or who worked at the Circle K at 2 Stillwater Avenue in Orono, Maine, from March 13 through 16 and March 20 through 21 receive hepatitis A vaccine within 14 days of their potential exposure. There is a 14-day window during which prophylaxis is effective after exposure.
Two outbreaks of hepatitis A virus (HAV) with 17 infections are under investigation in Ireland.
A total of 21 patients have been identified during a three-month period in Dublin, with 17 linked to the outbreaks that began in November 2020. One of the outbreak strains has genotype IA.
Some cases are associated with food premises
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Hepatitis A virus (HAV) causes acute inflammatory hepatic infections in humans. Transmission occurs primarily via the faecal-oral route through contaminated food or water or person-to-person spread [1]. While the disease is often asymptomatic or mild in younger children, it can cause debilitating symptoms and fulminant hepatitis in adults. After an abrupt onset with fever, malaise and abdominal discomfort, jaundice is the predominant symptom. The average incubation period is 28 to 30 days (range: 15–50) with maximum infectivity during the latter half of the incubation period, i.e. while being asymptomatic [1]. HAV retains infectivity after freezing and can persist in the environment, being able to withstand food-production processes routinely used to inactivate bacterial pathogens [2].
Direct or indirect detection of HAV infection in humans is notifiable in Germany to local public health authorities (LPHA), which transmit case reports electronically via the state level to the national public health institute (Robert Koch Institute, RKI). The case definition of hepatitis A in place for surveillance purposes in Germany is: a symptomatic disease (defined as one or more of the following: fever, abdominal discomfort, increase of serum transaminases, jaundice), plus laboratory confirmation (i.e. detection of HAV nucleic acid or HAV-specific IgM or a distinct increase of HAV-IgG concentrations). Symptomatic cases with an epidemiological link to a laboratory-confirmed hepatitis A case also fulfil the case definition. Forwarding of HAV-reactive serum or stool samples from diagnosing laboratories to the National Consultant Laboratory for HAV for sequencing is voluntary, and is intensified during outbreaks.
In 2016, the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) incidence of hepatitis A was 2.4 cases per 100,000 population; the highest incidences were in eastern EU countries, while HAV infections in other EU/EAA regions were mostly associated with infections acquired abroad [3]. Like most high-income countries, Germany is a low-incidence country with a median hepatitis A incidence of 1.02 per 100,000 inhabitants between 2010 and 2018. The median hepatitis A incidence in Berlin, Germany is slightly higher (1.79/100,000 in 2010–2018). European outbreaks of hepatitis A among men who have sex with men caused higher case numbers in Berlin and the EU/EEA in 2017 [4,5]. Recently, several hepatitis A outbreaks associated with frozen berries have been described in Europe [6,7].
This HAV subgenotype IB strain has previously caused outbreaks in Sweden (June–July 2018) and Austria (July–September 2018) [8], comprising a total of 34 reported cases. Combined epidemiological and microbiological outbreak investigations identified imported frozen strawberries produced in Poland as the vehicle. In Sweden, the HAV outbreak strain was detected in frozen strawberries and the contaminated batch was withdrawn from the Swedish market. Trace-back investigations from both Sweden and Austria identified Polish producer Y as the source for the implicated frozen strawberries.
Shortly after outbreak control in both countries, cases with the identical virus sequence started to appear in Germany in October 2018. The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) and all federal public health authorities were informed about this by the RKI and sequencing of samples of autochthonous hepatitis A cases was intensified.
Here we describe the results of the epidemiological investigation of an outbreak of hepatitis A in Germany presenting in two waves, one in 2018 and another in 2019.
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Background: Outbreaks of Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection continue to be reported from India, that have transitioned from hyper-to-intermediate endemicity. Hepatitis A and Salmonella sp. share similar routes of transmission and may co-infect individuals at risk. We report here an outbreak of hepatitis A with concomitant Salmonellosis from an urban settlement of Vellore in south India between July and August 2019.
Our findings highlight that Hepatitis A infection can present as sporadic outbreaks in communities with sub-standard water and sewage systems, along with the co-infection of other enteric infections such as invasive Salmonellosis. Thus, population-based surveillance for Hepatitis A is required in India, to identify populations and geographical regions at risk, and thereby potentially plan implementation strategies for Hepatitis A vaccination.
In Schuyler County, New York, a Dunkin Donuts hepatitis A employee worked while infectious, according to a press release by the Chemung County Health Department. An investigation has been launched because that person worked at two area Dunkin Donuts locations.
Contaminated salted shellfish were a suspected cause of the 2019 hepatitis A outbreak in Korea; however, no virus was detected in the shellfish by the virus detection tests used. In this study, we investigated the shortcomings of these detection tests for identifying hepatitis A virus in salted shellfish to serve as a guide for improvement of these tests. Salted shellfish were washed and desalted before collecting the mid‐guts for testing. For verification of the method, the mid‐guts were first inoculated with norovirus and then RT‐qPCR was performed to determine the presence of norovirus genes. The norovirus gene was amplified normally along with an internal positive control; however, when the nucleic acid was extracted to be concentrated, gene amplification was inhibited. Since NaCl was the suspected contaminant, RT‐qPCR was then performed on samples that had been desalinated for 2 days, and hepatitis A virus genes were successfully detected. Gene amplification enabled analyzing the relationship between patients in the outbreak and the distributed salted shellfish. To detect viral contamination in salted and fermented specimens such as salted shellfish, it is imperative to extract the mid‐gut intestinal tract and remove any PCR inhibitors (e.g., excess salt). In this study, desalting salted shellfish using sterile distilled water before harvesting the mid‐gut was effective in facilitating hepatitis A detection. Development of future test methods requires accurately determining the effect of PCR inhibitors through the incorporation of an IPC in genetic detection tests.
High-pressure processing (HPP) is an innovative non-thermal food preservation method. HPP can inactivate microorganisms, including viruses, with minimal influence on the physicochemical and sensory properties of foods. The most significant foodborne viruses are human norovirus (HuNoV), hepatitis A virus (HAV), human rotavirus (HRV), hepatitis E virus (HEV), human astrovirus (HAstV), human adenovirus (HuAdV), Aichi virus (AiV), sapovirus (SaV), and enterovirus (EV), which have also been implicated in foodborne outbreaks in various countries. The HPP inactivation of foodborne viruses in foods depends on high-pressure processing parameters (pressure, temperature, and duration time) or non-processing parameters such as virus type, food matrix, water activity (aw), and the pH of foods. HPP was found to be effective for the inactivation of foodborne viruses such as HuNoV, HAV, HAstV, and HuAdV in foods. HPP treatments have been found to be effective at eliminating foodborne viruses in high-risk foods such as shellfish and vegetables. The present work reviews the published data on the effect of HPP processing on foodborne viruses in laboratory media and foods. View Full-Text
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