Eurosurveillance - Volume 18, Issue 17, 25 April 2013

Since November 2012, there has been an increase in reported cases of hepatitis A in tourists returning from Egypt in several European countries. As of 24 April, 80 HAV cases in travellers with symptom onset after 1 November 2012 visiting different areas in Egypt have been reported. Four cases from Norway, six cases from the Netherlands and five cases from England share an identical hepatitis A viral RNA sequence. This increase in cases suggests that vaccination recommendations for travellers to hepatitis A endemic countries should be reinforced.

A food-borne outbreak of hepatitis A in Denmark was notified to other countries on 1 March 2013. A case-control study identified frozen berries eaten in smoothies as potential vehicle. In the following weeks, Finland, Norway and Sweden also identified an increased number of hepatitis A patients without travel history. Most cases reported having eaten frozen berries at the time of exposure. By 17 April, 71 cases were notified in the four countries. No specific type of berry, brand or origin of berries has yet been identified. .

We report the first detection of Seoul virus (SEOV) in humans in Europe, causing severe disease in a pregnant woman in France in October 2012. The patient's laboratory test results mimicked that of pregnancy-induced liver pathologies such as acute fatty liver of pregnancy (AFLP) with severe renal failure. This led to an emergency delivery (at 27 weeks' gestation). On the basis of gene S (small) sequence analysis, the Seoul hantavirus strain detected was found to belong to the main SEOV phylogroup. .