Disease tracked to childcare centre

Parents are sticking by a Christchurch childcare centre linked to an outbreak of the crippling hepatitis A disease.

Twenty-one people have been diagnosed with the highly contagious virus in Christchurch since last month.

Normally there are only two or three cases a year in the city.

Health authorities say the common link was the ABC childcare centre in the suburb of Ferrymead.

Eight of the cases had "direct association" with the centre, and a series of birthday and Christmas functions on the premises had also led to the spread of the disease.

"It is probable the disease was initially introduced from outside, probably from someone returning from overseas," said Canterbury medical officer of health Mel Brieseman.

The disease attacks the liver and in rare cases it can kill. Two infected adults were admitted to hospital but have been discharged.

ABC centre manager Cindy Paul said so far no parents had pulled their children out of the centre, which serves about 60 children.

"We have been really pleased with the support from our families. A lot of the comments have been that they have appreciated our openness in approaching them," Ms Paul said.

"Our staff are given quite strict training on health and hygiene. We certainly pride ourselves on that, so for us it has been very disappointing."

Dr Brieseman said authorities considered closing the centre, but most of the exposure that was going to occur had already happened.

The difficulty with a childcare centre was that preschoolers generally were not hygiene-conscious.

"Hygiene in the community is nowhere near as good as it should be, which means when you get a disease like hepatitis A introduced it spreads very rapidly," Dr Brieseman said.

"The take-home moral is 'wash your hands'."

The last outbreak of hepatitis in Christchurch was four years ago. Last year an outbreak of legionnaires disease affected 19 people. Three died.
 

Hepatitis A

* Hepatitis A is a viral disease that affects the liver.
* It is spread by contamination of food or directly from person to person because of poor hygiene.
* Early symptoms include generally feeling unwell, abdominal discomfort, nausea and fever. Jaundice develops in the later stages of the disease. In rare cases, an infected person's liver may fail.
* People in close contact with a person infected with hepatitis A may be offered an injection of antibodies (gammaglobulin) for temporary protection. Immunisation can be offered for long-term protection.