Ministry of Health calls for 400 people to be vaccinated after detection of hepatitis A outbreak in Ibiza and calls for accountability

Department of Health discovered an outbreak of hepatitis A in the town of Santa Eularia in Ibiza, where a total of 16 people were 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 They will have some kind of relationship with the affected minors. The General Directorate of Public Health has already begun vaccinating students in the affected classes at the educational centers, as well as adults living with them and teachers, provided that all these people have not previously been vaccinated against the hepatitis A virus, as established by the Hepatitis A Surveillance Protocol.

Director General of Public Health Elena Esteban He explained that on September 25, the outbreak became known and 80 people were called for vaccination, including 30 children and 50 adults, 42 of whom refused the vaccine. “We do call to responsibility because the vaccine is the only way to stop the transmission route,” the CEO said, regretting that the rejection from adults was “important.”

SYMPTOMS

IN relationship with the virusThey clarified that “in the first years of life it is asymptomatic and that the incubation period can reach 50 days.” For this reason, Esteban insisted on the importance of vaccination, since adults “may come into contact with children who do not have symptoms but may be contagious.”

According to the CEO, hepatitis A is an infection which may cause general discomfort in young children and may cause “mild” nausea or abdominal pain, among other symptoms, in adults. According to him, of the 16 identified cases, everything is fine; one person was hospitalized, but has already been discharged.

Besides, epidemiological notification of all medical centers Ibizans, both public and private, must be on alert and urgently notify of any new diagnosis, a warning that has also been transmitted to the island’s laboratories for them to quickly notify of any case they have diagnosed since the beginning of the year and from now on.