Olga Yastremska, New Africa, AFR / New Africa – Stock.adobe.com
This resurgence of cases is “atypical” with regard to the usual situation in the Nantes metropolis, underlines the ARS of the Pays de la Loire this Thursday.
Since June, “At least 16 cases” Infection to hepatitis A virus have been identified in the Nantes agglomeration, reports the ARS of the Pays de la Loire in a press release dated July 17. Despite a context of general increase in cases in Europe, this resurgence in France, at the local level, remains “Atypical with regard to the usual situation in the region”underlines the ARS of the Pays de la Loire.
At the end of last June, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) indeed indicated a disturbing increase in cases of hepatitis A between January and May 2025 in Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, where 2097 cases were reported in total. Although rare, these infections are not exceptional in France either: around 1,200 cases are declared on average each year in France, according to Public Health France. After a clear decrease in cases during the COVVI-19 pandemic (less trips to countries where the virus is endemic, better hand hygiene), the number of patients left up in 2023. Last year, in May 2024, several college students educated in a college in Le Havre had thus been infected.
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Hepatitis A is a liver pathology caused by a virus present in the stools of infected people. If other viruses attacking the liver diffuse by blood or sexual route, the hepatitis virus has transmitted from one person to another through hands, objects, foods or water contaminated by faeces. The germ is indeed found in large quantities in the stools of sick people.
Vigilance in the event of travel in certain countries
Hepatitis A does not circulate endemic in France. It is therefore often brought from abroad by travelers from regions of the world where the virus is endemic: in Africa, Latin America, Middle East, Central Asia and Oceania. In the event of a stay in these regions, the ARS recommends soliciting a medical advice for a possible vaccination and adopting rigorous hygiene on site (drinking water, full food cooking, full hand washing). But another frequent source of contamination also comes from the consumption of badly cooked or raw seafood, adds the health agency.
Infection can cause digestive symptoms (nausea, stomach pain, loss of appetite), increased fatigue, and in some cases jaundice. Unlike hepatitis B and C, hepatitis A does not result in chronic liver disease. There is no curative treatment, but in the majority of cases, the infection heals spontaneously and without sequelae. However, it can evolve towards a serious form requiring hospitalization, especially in people at risk (elderly or who have already suffered from a liver disease).
Hygiene and vaccination
The ARS recalls the simple prevention gestures to effectively reduce the risk of contamination: wash your hands regularly with water and soap, especially before meals and after each passage to the toilet; Wash the food with drinking and not soiled water; Avoid consumption of raw or little cooked seafood.
In addition to the travelers concerned by stays in countries where the virus circulates endemically, the vaccine is also indicated to children welcomed in community, young people with disabilities, and people with cystic fibrosis and liver disease.
