Hepatitis outbreak closes schools, sends scores to hospital in Ukraine

Schools will move to an online regime
starting Monday in Ukraine’s central city of Vinnytsia after a
Hepatitis A outbreak sent scores of children and adults to the
hospital, the country’s chief sanitary official said over the
weekend.
“The main thing now is to establish the centre of the
outbreak and the causes in order to stop the spread of the viral
Hepatitis A among the population as soon as possible,” Chief
Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine Ihor Kuzin wrote on Facebook on
Saturday.
Kuzin, who also serves as Ukraine’s deputy health minister,
said 141 people in the city and the region were in a hospital.
Vinnytsia, which had a pre-war population of around 370,000, is
the administrative centre of the Vinnytsia region in central
Ukraine.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, Hepatitis A is a highly contagious, short-term liver
infection that can be spread through close personal contact or
eating contaminated food or drink.
People who get Hepatitis A may feel sick for a few weeks to
several months but usually recover fully – unless they are in a
higher risk group or have pre-existing health conditions.
“So far, there is no single cause of the outbreak,” Kuzin
said.
“We are analyzing the centers of spread and are working with
the population, in particular to establish a circle of contact
persons.”