Sharp rise in hepatitis A cases in Canterbury

Canterbury health officials are becoming increasingly alarmed at the high number of hepatitis A infections in the region. 

Twelve people have been infected with the highly contagious virus since Christmas, compared with a total of just two or three cases in an average year.

The source of the jaundice-causing illness in three of the patients recently diagnosed remains a mystery, The Press newspaper reported today.

Canterbury District Health Board medical officer of health Dr Mel Brieseman said the three new cases had some association with those already notified.

"Some are related. Some are boyfriend or girlfriend. All are part of family clusters," he said.

The youngest involved was a five-year-old and the oldest was aged 73, Dr Brieseman said.

"We still haven't identified any likely source, but we're processing information in that regard. We're asking who they've been with, where they've been, what they've been eating," he said.

However, as there was no occasion where all patients had eaten a meal together, it was proving difficult to track down the source, Dr Brieseman said.

The virus is most commonly transmitted through contaminated food.

Pegasus Health clinical leader Dr Graham McGeoch said doctors had raised their level of awareness of the illness, symptoms of which included feeling generally unwell, abdominal discomfort, tiredness, nausea, fever and, in the later stages, jaundice.

"Sometimes it's very obvious -- people go yellow -- but quite often it's quite subtle," he said.

- NZPA