Eight EU countries claim their tourists returned home with Hepatitis A after visiting Morocco

Tourists returning from Morocco are reporting infections caused by two distinct Hepatitis A virus strains, said Food Safety News on Wednesday, 11th of July, quoting Eurosurveillance magazine.

«Cases are between three and 81 years old and 26 out of 55 of them are female. Three cases reported travel to Morocco within 50 days before disease onset», reported the same source.

In general, 163 patients from eight European countries have claimed they suffered from Hepatitis A virus (HAV), after holidaying in the Kingdom.

36 cases were reported in the UK alone, while Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden made reference to more than 6 infections.

«The occurrence of closely related strains of HAV has been observed in other major food borne outbreaks. It is, however, still possible those cases actually belong to separate transmission chains», said the same source.

«The outbreaks described here illustrate the increased risk that non-immune travelers face when visiting HAV-endemic areas like Morocco», added researches.