The Curitiba Municipal Health Department confirmed that the city is experiencing an outbreak of Hepatitis A. Between January and last Friday (26), 150 cases and three deaths from the disease were confirmed. Businesswoman Julia Franciosi Gottschild, 33, was hospitalized for two days.
“It started on April 5th. I had a lot of headache, feeling unwell, a bad feeling, like a migraine. A few days passed, I sought medical attention and they only gave me medicine for a headache,” she explains.
After three days of trying to treat the headache, Julia started experiencing a fever, a lot of tiredness, loss of appetite and very severe pain in the abdomen. Additionally, she noticed that her pee was very yellow and noticed a yellowish color on her skin as well.
“On Friday, I went to the São Marcelino Champagnat Hospital. I thought I was just going to have a consultation, but I was hospitalized. I took tests and discovered that I had hepatitis A. I stayed in the hospital from Friday to Sunday, monitoring how my body reacted to the disease, as there is no specific medicine for hepatitis A”, says the businesswoman.
Her husband, businessman João Felipe Gottschild, 36, was hospitalized for a week.
Symptoms and prevention
Julia issued a warning to her followers on social media. She advised people to take a blood test to find out if they have antibodies to hepatitis A. If not, she called for vaccination.
“The disease is terrible. There is a vaccine available and, whoever hasn’t taken it, should take it”, emphasizes the influencer.
The gastroenterologist at São Marcelino Champagnat and Universitário Cajuru Hospitals, Jean Tafarel, explains that people can contract hepatitis A only once in their lives. Anyone who has had the disease is therefore immune. Those who haven’t had it can seek immunization.
“Prevention can be done with the vaccine, which is currently commercialized. There are two doses, six months apart. For a large part of the population, it is only available at Vaccination Centers. However, it has been part of the SUS vaccination calendar for children under 5 years of age, since 2013, and is also available at the Special Immunobiological Reference Center for some groups of immunosuppressed people, such as people living with HIV and transplant recipients”, he points out.
The doctor states that it is necessary to seek prevention.
“These are hygiene and food handling precautions. We must take care of washing our hands, washing our food, trying to drink only filtered water”, he explains.
Hepatitis A is an inflammation of the liver caused by a virus called virus A. This virus A is one of the most common for humans to contract, as transmission is via the fecal-oral route, that is, the person can acquire the virus through from ingestion of contaminated water or food or during sexual intercourse, when there is exposure from the mouth to the anal region. But the most common form of contamination is when a person ingests contaminated water and food. Ingestion is also possible when a person comes into contact with flood water, contaminated with the virus, which indirectly splashes into the mouth.
“Once the virus enters the body, it tends to lodge in the liver, promoting inflammation of the organ because it replicates within the liver cell. The immune system goes to the liver, attacks this cell and ends up causing liver damage. Symptoms range from fever, general malaise, nausea, vomiting and abdominal discomfort that may predominate on the right side. Jaundice may appear, which people call yellowness. It’s that yellowish color on the skin, in the eyes. The urine may also become darker and some patients may notice their stools being a little lighter”, explains the gastroenterologist.
Cases
In 2024, from January to April 26, 150 cases of hepatitis A have already been confirmed in Curitiba, of which 80% (120 cases) affected men and 20% (30 cases) women. The most obvious age group is between 20 and 39 years old. Around 48% of infected people (72) required hospitalization and seven of them (9.7%) required intensive care, that is, admission to an ICU.
Three deaths from acute hepatitis A were also confirmed this year: a 29-year-old woman, and two men, aged 40 and 60. A 46-year-old man needed a liver transplant as a result of the disease and has now recovered.
Symptoms
The symptoms of hepatitis A can often be confused with those of other diseases. The main ones are fatigue, malaise, fever and muscle pain. As the condition progresses, gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, constipation or diarrhea may appear. The infected person may also have dark urine (coca-cola color) and yellow skin and eyes (jaundice).
Vaccine
Since 2014, the hepatitis A vaccine has been available in the SUS basic vaccination schedule for children under 5 years of age. All Health Units in the capital of Paraná offer immunization against the disease.
At the Special Immunobiological Reference Center (CRIE), the hepatitis A vaccine is available for the following groups:
- Chronic liver disease of any etiology, including carriers of the hepatitis C and B virus.
- People living with HIV/AIDS.
- Therapeutic immunosuppression or immunosuppressive diseases.
- Coagulopathies, storage diseases, cystic fibrosis, trisomies, hemoglobinopathies.
- Candidates for solid organ transplants, registered in transplant programs.
- Solid organ transplants (SOT).
- Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).
- Anatomical or functional asplenia from related diseases.
Find out how to prevent Hepatitis A contamination
Read more
⚠ Report error
