World Hepatitis Day, July 28, is a public health initiative meant to raise awareness about a viral Hepatitis which affects 400 million people worldwide and is considered a major public health threat. Of the 400 million people worldwide estimated to be infected, 4.4 million live in the U.S.
The five main types of the virus are: Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E. All of them cause inflammation of the liver; but B and C can result in a lifelong, chronic infection. Hepatitis A has been in the headlines since June when an outbreak associated with frozen berries made by Townsend Farms and sold at Costco was first announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
As of July 24, 2013, 153 people are confirmed to have contracted hepatitis A after eating ‘Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend’ frozen berries. The case patients are from nine states: Arizona (22), California (75), Colorado (27), Hawaii (8), New Hampshire (1), New Mexico (9), Nevada (6), Utah (3), and Wisconsin (2). [Note: The Wisconsin cases resulted from exposure to the product in California, and the New Hampshire resulted from travel to Nevada.] Sixty six people have been hospiatlized.
The case patients range in age from 1-84 years old and most of them, about 85 percent are female. They have reported onset of illness dates ranging from March 31 2013 to July 9, 2013. All of them reported eating the frozen Townsend Farms berries purchased from Costco before becoming ill.
Hepatits A symptoms can take between two and six weeks to develop and include yellow skin or eyes, fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine, clay-colored bowel movements and joint pain. See a doctor if you have these symptoms.
The CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have determined that “the most likely vehicle for the hepatitis A virus appears to be a common shipment of pomegranate seeds from a company in Turkey, Goknur Foodstuffs Import Export Trading.” That FDA has detained all shipments of pomegranate seeds from Goknur since June 29 and is working to notify all companies that may have received shipments of pomegranate seeds from this company.
