The outbreak of hepatitis in the Czech Republic looks like is not over. Last week, there were 50 cases where patients were diagnosed with hepatitis A.
Since the beginning of this year, there have been 1,383 cases of hepatitis A that has been reported with Prague being the most affected area. This is a tenfold increase compared to previous year of 2007.
As reported by the Health Ministry this Monday, November 24: the most infected include young children of primary school and kindergarten age.
The Chief Public Health Officer, Michael VÃt, predicts that the outbreak will not be over before January 2009. But there is a sign of hope as the number of registered cases is slightly decreasing at the moment.
It is reported that the outbreak of hepatitis first started among the intravenous drug-users and homeless people in Prague during the summertime of 2008. But soon it spread to the general public as it is unknown how this spread so quickly.
Massive demand for vaccination
In September, the Prague Municipality launched a massive ad campaign targeting those at highest risk. As a result, hundreds of the homeless and drug-addicts were vaccinated to prevent the disease from spreading within their social group even more so.
The hepatitis epidemic stirred a massive increase in demand for vaccination among the Czech population. Vit reported that “We have never needed so many vaccines as this year.”
The needs for vaccination unfortunately allowed the public to be scammed. It was exploited by con artists who offered vaccinations online, under a name of an existing private company in Prague. The fraudulent page antizloutenka.info offered overpriced vaccines that had to be paid in advance.
Weeks in hospital
Some early symptoms of a person infected with hepatitis A are flu-like symptoms: fever, fatigue, nausea, and abdominal pain. But some sufferers, particularly children, often show no symptoms at all.
In some cases, the infected may also experience jaundice, a yellowing of the skin. The Czech name of the disease is žloutenka which is translated as the yellow disease.
Those who are infected with hepatitis A have to be hospitalized for several weeks or even months for treatment. Every year about 10 million people worldwide are infected with the Hepatitis A virus.
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