Hepatitis A Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Hepatitis A Blog

 We cannot say we were really worried about this one.   Regular tourism between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan has been underway since last July.  Apparently worry-warts have been concerned that the mainland tourists might spread Hepatitis A to residents of the island nation.

With Taiwan and China getting along, we'd hate to see anything come between them.  After all, once enough of those pink-shirted mainland tourists come visiting the island, could anything other than lasting peace be far behind?  

So, this is good news.  The Taiwan News is reporting today that Chinese tourists’ arrivals won’t cause hepatitis A epidemic according to its Centers for Disease Control.  According The News:

"Hepatitis A infection is highly related to environmental hygiene,... Taiwan's basic public health conditions have been largely improved compared to 20 years ago. It is unlikely that (the disease) will break out here," said Lin Ting, CDC deputy director-general.

Lin said that even if Chinese tourists with hepatitis A come to Taiwan and spread the virus, there would be only a few individual cases, not an epidemic.

But he noted that most young Taiwanese people under age 30 do not have the antibody to hepatitis A. If these people make frequent visits to Southeast Asia and mainland China and stay there for a long period of time, they must be careful about eating local food and environmental hygiene, to prevent from getting hepatitis A.

Getting a vaccination is the most efficient way to avoid contracting the infectious disease, Lin said, encouraging people to be vaccinated.

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 Health professionals in Maine are on the lookout this week for more cases of Hepatitis A.  After a sixth school child was diagnosed with Hepatitis A it brought the total number of cases in the Kennebunk/Kennebunkport area to 12.

Officials now think that someone who traveled overseas to an area where Hepatitis A is common brought the disease back to Maine and that is what caused others to get it. The Maine-based news service, seacoastonline says:

Last week, district officials, school physician and local pediatrician Don Burgess and the Maine Center for Disease Control's Andy Pelletier met with parents to try to address their concerns. While nearly 80 percent of the school's students have received the hepatitis A vaccine, Pelletier expressed concern that 20 percent had not. Those students are vulnerable to the infection, he said.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, hepatitis A is "an acute liver disease caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV), lasting from a few weeks to several months. It does not lead to chronic infection." It is transmitted through the ingestion of fecal matter and from close person-to-person contact or ingestion of contaminated food or drinks.

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