The Ministry of Health confirms an outbreak of hepatitis A, with 16 people affected so far in Santa Eularia (Ibiza).

IBIZA, October 9 (EUROPE PRESS) –

The Ministry of Health has identified an outbreak of hepatitis A in the town of Santa Eularia in Ibiza, where a total of 16 people have so far been diagnosed.

Ten of the cases are young people, while the remaining six children are studying at a pre-primary school in the Santa Eularia area or in their first years of primary education in schools in the municipality. All infected adults will have some form of relationship with infected minors.

The General Directorate of Public Health has already begun vaccinating students in the affected classes of educational centers, as well as adults living with them and teachers, provided that all these people have not previously been vaccinated against the hepatitis virus. A, as established by the Hepatitis A Surveillance Protocol.

According to the government, more than thirty people have been vaccinated and vaccination of close contacts will continue in the coming days.

Initial investigations indicate an epidemiological link between mother and child in some cases and possible transmission through close contact between the affected minors, as they all attended or had connections to two educational centers in the city.

These possible epidemiological links are common to all cases identified to date in both minors and adults.

Following the first notifications, the General Directorate of Public Health contacted educational centers where cases had been reported among children so that they could take appropriate measures to avoid the possibility of new infections, especially among people most vulnerable to hepatitis. TO.

Among other measures, Public Health urged educational centers to implement strict hygiene measures, especially in bathrooms and dining areas. He also called on school occupational safety services to conduct individual assessments of workers involved in these cases.

Likewise, an epidemiological alert was sent to all health centers in Ibiza, both public and private, so that they were vigilant and urgently notified of any new diagnosis, an alert that was also transmitted to laboratories on the island so that they could promptly notify acceleration of any case that was diagnosed from the beginning of the year onwards.