(JP)Wild boar barbecue infects 11 with hepatitis-E

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http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20040513p2a00m0dm001000c.html

 

Wild boar barbecue infects 11 with hepatitis-E

 

OMURA, Nagasaki -- Eleven elderly men have been

infected with the hepatitis-E virus after eating wild

boar meat at a barbecue party in Nagasaki Prefecture

14 months ago, a taxpayer-funded hospital here said

Thursday.

 

This is the first time it has been confirmed that more

than 10 people had collectively contracted hepatitis-E

virus from the same source.

 

Doctors suspect the 11 men may have either eaten meat

that had not been grilled thoroughly enough to kill

the virus or used chopsticks that had touched raw

meat.

 

" Since hepatitis-E is similar to hepatitis-A, the

virus is generally killed if sufficiently heated. I

urge people to be careful when handling raw meat, "

Koji Yano, a doctor at the National Nagasaki Medical

Center in Omura, said.

 

Thirteen men aged between 64 and 82 held a barbecue

party in Nagasaki Prefecture in March last year using

meat from a wild boar they had caught, according to

Yano.

 

Two of the men, both aged 69, showed symptoms of acute

hepatitis, such as lethargy and jaundice, in late

April, and underwent a medical check-up at a hospital.

The doctor who examined the two suspected that they

may have contracted hepatitis from the wild boar and

notified the medical center.

 

The center detected the hepatitis-E virus from their

blood samples. Noting that the genes of the virus in

the two samples were almost identical, doctors said

the two men were infected from the same source.

 

The medical center managed to conduct tests on 10 of

11 other men who had attended the party, and found

three of them showed symptoms of acute hepatitis while

six others had contracted the virus.

 

Infection with hepatitis-E virus has occurred

occasionally throughout the country on a smaller

scale. In March last year, two people living in

Tottori Prefecture suffered from hepatitis-E after

eating raw liver of a wild boar, and one of them died

later. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, May 13, 2004)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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