Has a hepatitis A epidemic actually broken out in Austria and Sweden?
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Hepatitis A epidemic has broken out! Frozen strawberries from Poland infected with pathogen
Contaminated strawberries from Poland have led to hepatitis infections in Austria and Sweden. This is reported by the 'Standard', citing the analyzes of the Agency for Health...
The fact check
Yes, this message is real.
According to Kurier and derStandard, identical cases have become known from Austria and Sweden. Researchers identified the source as contaminated water from a strawberry plantation in Poland.
The Agency for Health and Food Security (AGES) issued the following press release :
Hepatitis A outbreak:
Since July 2018, there have been indications of a cross-state outbreak of the disease caused by a specific genotype of the hepatitis A virus. In Austria, the reference center for hepatitis A (Center for Virology, Medical University of Vienna) has detected 15 cases with this new genotype since July 2018 (as of October 10, 2018).
The epidemiological investigations by AGES have identified a very high probability of frozen strawberries from a Polish producer as the source of the outbreak. Sweden was also able to trace cases of illness with the same genotype of the hepatitis A virus to frozen strawberries from the same producer. In Sweden, the identical virus was also detected in food. This proof is pending in Austria ( Eurosurveillance: Hepatitis A outbreak linked to imported frozen strawberries by sequencing, Sweden and Austria, June to September 2018 ).
The frozen strawberries were sold wholesale. Austrian customers were asked to heat frozen strawberries from the Polish producer before further use.
The investigations were carried out in close cooperation between AGES, the reference center for hepatitis A, BMASGK and the state authorities.
Hepatitis A cases in Austria 2009-2018 (3rd quarter)

Result:
Yes, there are cases of hepatitis A in Austria and Sweden due to frozen Polish strawberries.
AGES advises:
Austrian buyers were asked to heat frozen strawberries from the Polish producer before further use.
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