Hepatitis A: EFSA and ECDC update their rapid outbreak assessment
More than 1,300 hepatitis A cases have been reported in eleven Member States since January 2013, with 240 confirmed cases related to the ongoing outbreak.
Initially the outbreak was associated with people who had travelled to Italy. However seven Member States- France, Germany, Ireland, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom- have reported cases of infections in people who had not travelled to Italy.
Preliminary investigations identified frozen berries as the most likely source of infection. Other hypotheses, such as cross contamination The process by which microbes are unintentionally transferred from one substance or object to another, with harmful effect in the food production environment or that the outbreak strain A subtype of a microbe defined by its genetic make-up; for example, in the case of Escherichia coli O157, the 'O157' part of the name refers to the strain is already widespread but previously undetected, have now also been taken into account.
EFSA is leading a trace-back investigation, with the support of affected Member States, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the European Commission and the Federal Institute for risk assessment A specialised field of applied science that involves reviewing scientific data and studies in order to evaluate risks associated with certain hazards. It involves four steps: hazard identification, hazard characterisation, exposure assessment and risk characterisation (Bfr).