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In response to media enquiries on cases of hepatitis A, the spokesperson for the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) responded today (April 15) as follows:
"Hepatitis A is a statutory notifiable infectious disease in Hong Kong. CHP will carry out epidemiological investigations for every cases of hepatitis A in due course to understand whether the patients had consumed high risk-food like shellfish and berries during the incubation period, and will implement appropriate preventive and control measures.
As of yesterday (April 14), CHP has recorded 64 cases of hepatitis A infection this year, comprising 32 males and 32 females aged 11 to 83. All patients are in stable condition with no death case recorded. Among them, only 19 cases had consumed various types of berries, while only 8 of them had consumed blueberries during the incubation period. Epidemiological investigations so far did not show sufficient evidence of epidemiological linkage between the increase of hepatitis A cases and eating blueberries."
In 2012, 2013 and 2014, the yearly totals of hepatitis A cases were 43, 44 and 46 cases respectively.
Hepatitis A virus is usually transmitted by a faecal-oral route either through contaminated drinks or food such as shellfish, or directly from person to person. The members of public should take heed of the preventive measures below against hepatitis A:
* Wash hands properly with liquid soap and water before eating or handling food, and after going to the toilet or changing diapers;
* Purchase fresh food from reliable sources and do not patronise illegal hawkers;
* Drinking water should be from the mains and preferably boiled;
* Avoid high-risk food like shellfish, raw food or semi-cooked food;
* Clean and wash food thoroughly. Scrub and rinse shellfish in clean water. Remove the viscera if appropriate; for food to be consumed without cooking, e.g. fruits, clean and wash thoroughly;
* Cook food thoroughly. All shellfish should be cooked at boiling temperature for not less than five minutes before eating;
* Keep the premises and kitchen utensils clean; and
* Dispose of rubbish properly.
The public may visit the CHP's hepatitis A page (www.chp.gov.hk/en/content/9/24/24.html) and a related article in "Food Safety Focus" of the Centre for Food Safety (www.cfs.gov.hk/english/multimedia/multimedia_pub/multimedia_pub_fsf_105_03.html) for more information.
Ends/Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Issued at HKT 20:30
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