Four students from the Montesquieu private college in Le Havre were hospitalized for hepatitis A at the end of last week.
- Four high school students from Le Havre are hospitalized for hepatitis A.
- ARS Normandy has opened an epidemiological investigation.
- Hepatitis A is a liver disease that is caused by the HAV virus. It is transmitted by an infected person or through contact with contaminated objects and food.
Several cases of hepatitis A have appeared in the private Catholic school Montesquieu-Sainte-Marie in Le Havre (Seine-Maritime). An epidemiological investigation is being carried out within the establishment by the Normandy Regional Health Agency.
Hepatitis A: reinforced hygiene measures in college
The newspaper Paris-Normandy revealed that four students were hospitalized at the weekend for hepatitis A. Questioned by Actu.fr, Sylvain Pézier, director of the Catholic college, specified that the establishment was alerted on Thursday May 23, 2024. “It was the parents of two classmates who first called the establishment to report the absence of their children and the first suspicions.”
The young patients would be in 6e and would be 12 years old. The ARS, which confirmed the existence of these cases, ensures that reinforced hygiene measures have been put in place in the college in order to avoid the transmission of the virus. Parents of students were notified by letter of the situation.
Furthermore, an epidemiological investigation is underway. “An update could be carried out at the end of the week”, specifies ARS Normandie. She also recalled that hepatitis A is a notifiable disease. “any case of hepatitis A must be reported to the ARS Normandy health monitoring and security platform.”
Hepatitis A: what are the symptoms to look out for?
Hepatitis A is a liver disease that is caused by the HAV virus. The latter is transmitted between people or through contact with contaminated objects and food. The infection causes liver damage that disappears after healing.
“This disease heals on its own, without treatment. However, rare acute and serious hepatitis A is observed (5 cases per 1,000), especially if there is a prior liver disease”explains theHealth Insurance.
If in children under 6 years old the infection often goes unnoticed, the symptoms are more visible in older patients. The first signs of the disease are then:
- loss of appetite and nausea;
- intermittent pain in the abdomen;
- a flu syndrome (fever, headache, muscle pain, etc.);
- significant fatigue;
- joint pain;
- hives.
Secondly, jaundice (or jaundice) occurs. It is accompanied by discoloration of the stools, dark urine and sometimes itching. “The symptoms of the pre-icteric phase of hepatitis A ease and then disappear in the days following the onset of jaundice. Sometimes, there is no jaundice and only the signs of the pre-icteric phase -icteric exist“, adds theHealth Insurance on his site.
