The Ministry of Health has opened an investigation to clarify the origin of an outbreak of hepatitis A at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Seville which affected 13 people, ten of whom had to be hospitalized.
The last case was reported on November 25, as announced by the Seville Journal. Despite the seriousness of the situation, all those involved have already been released, according to ministry sources consulted by Europa Press. For the moment, the investigation does not exclude that some infections occurred outside the center.
From the University of Seville, they indicated that the faculty operates in “total normality” and that the corresponding protocols were activated when the cases became known. Likewise, they confirmed that no new infections had occurred.
Causes and contagion
Hepatitis A is an acute, usually self-limiting liver disease caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV). Symptoms usually begin suddenly with nausea, vomiting, anorexia, fever, general malaise or abdominal pain, followed in the following days by the typical presentation of jaundice, pruritus and choluria, which may be accompanied by acholic stools.
Transmission occurs from person to person by the fecal-oral route. The majority of transmissions occur in closed environments where there is close coexistence, mainly at home, according to the Ministry of Health.
In Andalusia, 166 cases were detected in 2024, more than double that of 2022 with 67 confirmed cases, according to official data. Almería was then the Andalusian province with the most cases (45), followed by Malaga (39) and Seville (35).
About The Author
