The hepatitis A emergency in Campania continues to worsen. Infections in the city of Naples alone have reached 154, with another 22 cases still being verified. The numbers show a rapid and alarming escalation: from 3 cases in January to 19 in February, up to 43 recorded in the first nineteen days of March alone.
According to the Prevention Department of the ASL Napoli 1 Centro, the spread of the virus is currently ten times higher than the average of the last ten years, and forty-one times higher than the last three years.
But how did this emergency begin? The most accredited hypothesis identifies the origin of the outbreak in mussel contamination that occurred in the waters of the Gulf of Pozzuoli in recent months, with products then sold and consumed raw. But in the last few hours a second front appears to be emerging: transmission from person to person via the fecal-oral route, which would explain the spread of the infection also to subjects who have not necessarily consumed seafood. The average age of those infected is between 35 and 55 years old, but those hospitalized also include people over seventy.
Among the most worrying cases is that of a 46-year-old man, initially admitted to the Cotugno hospital for severe liver failure and then transferred to Cardarelli: his conditions are serious enough to not exclude the need for a liver transplant. On the pediatric front, three Neapolitan children are currently hospitalized in the Santobono hospital ward. Their contagion would be attributable to the second wave of human-to-human transmission.
The Colli Hospital Company specified in a note that “there is no emergency” and that “the situation in the emergency room remains stable overall“, with approximately 14 new cases recorded during the day of March 19th.
The ordinance prohibiting the consumption of raw seafood in public places
To deal with the emergency, the Mayor of Naples Gaetano Manfredi signed a contingent and urgent ordinance. The provision establishes an absolute ban on the administration and consumption of raw seafood in all public establishments, including neighborhood establishments with on-site consumption and production activities for immediate consumption. However, sales remain permitted. TO
citizens are also advised to avoid consuming raw seafood even at home.
The ordinance invites the population to adopt the good practices indicated by the ASL Napoli 1 Center for the purchase and safe consumption of food. The full text is available on the website of the Municipality of Naples.
The measures are accompanied by an immediate strengthening of controls by the competent bodies. Anyone who does not comply with the ban risks administrative fines ranging from 2,000 to 20,000 euros. In case of recurrence, the suspension of the activity from one to thirty days and, subsequently, the revocation of the authorization are foreseen. The measures will remain in force until a new evaluation of the epidemiological picture by the ASL Napoli 1 Centro.
Checks in progress
ARPAC and the local health authorities have started inspections at sea, on farms, in fishmongers and in restaurants to trace the origin and extent of the contamination. On the individual prevention front, the health authorities reiterate the indications already widespread: always cook seafood and fish, wash your hands carefully after using the bathroom, and resort to vaccination against hepatitis A, which is not mandatory but available at local health authorities, pharmacies and vaccination centres.
