Nannas Berries Article Review
What is Hepatitis A?
Hepatitis A is when the liver is inflamed. It can be spread through hand and mouth contact through food, drinks or any object that has been in contact with the faeces. Fortunately, once you have had the disease you can be sure that you will not get it again, as your body will be fully immune to it!
Where and when did it happen?
Recently in Australia there has been an ongoing spread of the hepatitis A virus found in the Nanna’s Frozen Berries that have been imported from China. The first few cases however, were initially reported on the 16th of February 2015 at 7:40am.
How did this happen? (Causes)
There are two possible causes on how the berries got contaminated.
One way is that one of the workers in China who was handling the berries did not wash his hands properly, which resulted in the contamination of these fruit.
Or that the water that is supplied for the berry plants could have been sewage water which contains Hepatitis A.
What are the consequences to the consumers and/or people involved?
Consequences to the consumers of the Nanna’s Berry Product could be nausea, loss of appetite, jaundice (yellowed skin and eyes), dark urine, diarrhea and vomiting for up to 8 weeks. But no need to fear as Hepatitis A does not cause chronic liver disease and is not at all lethal.
What are measures that could have been done to avoid the incident?
There is nothing much we could have done to stop the Chinese berry workers from being unhygienic. As we did not know about it and neither did they. But, there are a few measures we in Australia could have taken to avoid this incident. The most important would have been taking the Hepatitis A vaccine. This vaccine offers a lifetime protection from Hepatitis A. It would have protected us all.
References
State Government Victoria, ‘Hepatitis A’ February 2015, http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au 21/02/15
Dr Jocelyn Lowinger, ‘Hepatitis’ Updated 17/02/2015,
Hepatitis A is when the liver is inflamed. It can be spread through hand and mouth contact through food, drinks or any object that has been in contact with the faeces. Fortunately, once you have had the disease you can be sure that you will not get it again, as your body will be fully immune to it!
Where and when did it happen?
Recently in Australia there has been an ongoing spread of the hepatitis A virus found in the Nanna’s Frozen Berries that have been imported from China. The first few cases however, were initially reported on the 16th of February 2015 at 7:40am.
How did this happen? (Causes)
There are two possible causes on how the berries got contaminated.
One way is that one of the workers in China who was handling the berries did not wash his hands properly, which resulted in the contamination of these fruit.
Or that the water that is supplied for the berry plants could have been sewage water which contains Hepatitis A.
What are the consequences to the consumers and/or people involved?
Consequences to the consumers of the Nanna’s Berry Product could be nausea, loss of appetite, jaundice (yellowed skin and eyes), dark urine, diarrhea and vomiting for up to 8 weeks. But no need to fear as Hepatitis A does not cause chronic liver disease and is not at all lethal.
What are measures that could have been done to avoid the incident?
There is nothing much we could have done to stop the Chinese berry workers from being unhygienic. As we did not know about it and neither did they. But, there are a few measures we in Australia could have taken to avoid this incident. The most important would have been taking the Hepatitis A vaccine. This vaccine offers a lifetime protection from Hepatitis A. It would have protected us all.
References
State Government Victoria, ‘Hepatitis A’ February 2015, http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au 21/02/15
Dr Jocelyn Lowinger, ‘Hepatitis’ Updated 17/02/2015,
References: State Government Victoria, ‘Hepatitis A’ February 2015, http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au 21/02/15 Dr Jocelyn Lowinger, ‘Hepatitis’ Updated 17/02/2015, http://www.abc.net.au/health/library/stories/2010/05/19/2903759.htm Sue-Lin Tan, Four More Hepatitis A Cases Linked to Nanna’s Frozen Berries’ 21/02/2015 The Daily Telograph, ‘Meet the People affected by The Nanna’s Mixed Frozen Berries Recall Due to A Hepatitis A Breakout’ 21/02,15 http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au 4/02/15