Tas hepatitis A cases linked to NT

Tasmanian health officials are investigating four cases of the liver disease hepatitis A, which they suspect the patients contracted in the Northern Territory.

Tasmanian health officials are investigating four cases of the liver disease hepatitis A, which they suspect the patients contracted in the Northern Territory.Two of the people who contracted the disease live in the north of the island, one in the north-west and one in the south.The small outbreak of hepatitis A involves three adults and a teenager who recently travelled to the Northern Territory together.Tasmania’s director of public health, Roscoe Taylor, believes that is where they contracted the disease.A one-month incubation period meant the four did not show signs of the virus until after they had returned to Tasmania.Symptoms include fever, vomiting, jaundice, nausea and loss of appetite.One of the victims was admitted to hospital for two days.Dr Taylor says the disease is spread by water and food contamination or close personal contact.However, Dr Taylor says there is no need for panic because the cases are unlikely to be transmitted to anyone else.It brings the number of hepatitis A cases in Tasmania this year to six, the highest in more than a decade.(Source: ABC, Friday, June 6, 2003. 7:00am (AEST))