The United States’ food supply is considered to be among the safest in the world. Even so, there are still opportunities for foodborne illnesses to thrive if conditions are right. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration there are more than 76 million cases of foodborne illness each year. With recent outbreaks of Hepatitis A that have sickened several hundred people, consumers are wondering if the situation could have been prevented.
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, a condition caused by a family of viruses that includes Hepatitis A, B, and C. Hepatitis A is a pathogen found in human feces. Contamination of water and/or food by food handlers who are infected with Hepatitis A and who practice poor personal hygiene is the main cause of the foodborne illness. Anyone can get Hepatitis A, but persons who have low immunity due to a chronic disease are especially susceptible. The reason is that Hepatitis A is found in human feces and anyone who comes in contact with the virus in the environment or contaminated food can become ill. If an infected person touches food or water, without applying proper personal hygiene practices, then the virus can be passed along to another person.
Symptoms of Hepatitis A include fever, tiredness, loss of appetite, nausea, abdominal pain, dark urine, and yellowing of the skin and eyeballs (jaundice). A person infected with the disease can spread the disease two weeks before and two weeks after symptoms appear. Symptoms appear 10 to 50 days after exposure to the virus, depending on the dose of virus particles ingested. Hepatitis A usually does not have long-term chronic effects like other forms of hepatitis and it is usually not fatal.
The exact number of Hepatitis A cases that occur each year is hard to determine because many people attribute their illness to the flu. The local Health Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot record the number of cases accurately unless the ill person seeks medical care, which is unusual in mild cases. The CDC has calculated an estimate of the number of cases of Hepatitis A based on corrections for under reporting, misdiagnosis, and the number of cases that are not caused by contaminated food. The CDC estimates that there are over 1,500 cases of Hepatitis A each year in the United States, and that 7% of the cases are caused by eating contaminated food. The remaining are caused by environmental contamination.
Any food can be contaminated with Hepatitis A. The foods most often implicated in foodborne illness are food served cold or raw, such as salads. The good news about the virus is that it doesn’t multiply in foods or water like bacteria. If you are traveling in an area that appears to have polluted water, drink bottled beverages without ice. Below are ways that you can control this pathogen in your home:
Wash hands with warm soapy water before and after handling raw foods.
Wash fruits and vegetables before eating them.
Knives, cutting boards, and food preparation surfaces should be washed with hot water and soap after contact with raw foods.
Use a thermometer to make sure that raw foods are cooked to safe temperatures, at least 185 degrees F to destroy Hepatitis A.
Remember, good personal hygiene and proper sanitation can prevent foodborne illness.
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Contact Lora Pullin, Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences in Greenup County at 606-836-0201 or lora.pullin@uky.edu. (Source Joe O’Leary) Educational programs of Kentucky Cooperative Extension serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability, or national origin.
