Hepatitis A connected to tomatoes

09 March 2012 09:01

An outbreak of hepatitis A has been traced to tomatoes

An outbreak of hepatitis A has been traced to tomatoes

A possible link between sun-dried tomatoes and hepatitis A is being looked into by the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

Officials said they are investigating two cases of the infection which have the same strain found in three previous cases reported in England in 2010.

The latest two people with the infection have confirmed they had recently eaten sun-dried tomatoes.

The 2010 outbreak was found to be the similar to a number of cases reported in the Netherlands which were also believed to be related to sun-dried tomatoes.

One of the latest cases admitted they had recently visited Holland which reinforces the importance of medical travel insurance in case you become unwell abroad.

Sun-dried tomatoes are being investigated as one possible source of the Hepatitis A cases reported last year" the HSA and Food Standards Agency said in a statement.

The disease is usually caused by small amounts of faeces on food which has the virus being ingested and is most commonly found in countries with bad sanitation.

Estimates from the World Health Organisation state that around 1.5 million new cases of hepatitis A are reported each year worldwide.

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