Hyderabad: Over 20 cases of Hepatitis A have been reported in each of the four major private hospitals – Yashoda, Apollo, Care and Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences – of the city, setting alarm bells ringing as so many cases do not come in a week.
Usually, there are only a couple of cases every week and experts say that the rise in the number of cases might be because people are not taking precautions while eating outside.
Dr Rama Krishan, a general physician, said, “While investigating their dietary habits for the last 10 days it was found that they were eating foods like haleem, kebabs, chicken sandwiches and puffs at local eateries. This has been done on a daily basis in most of the cases, which has led to the onset of the disease.”
Maximum cases at the private hospitals are from the city with only five of them being from Nizamabad and Karimnagar districts.
The average age of the patients is 20 to 30 years. As the private hospitals do not have a reporting system to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, the cases are not registered.
Hepatitis A spreads through contaminated food and water. Dr P. Bhavani Raju, senior consultant gastroenterologist at Care Hospitals, said, “While taking the foods habits into account, it was found that maximum number of people ate out on a daily basis. The aggression of the disease in terms of abdominal pain and diarrhea are seen in the first week of the onset of the disease.”
Nutritionist Sunitha Premlatha with Yashoda Hospitals said, “When food is cooked at very high temperatures, bacteria and viruses are killed. But what about the people who handle the food? The area where the food is made and also inadequate personal hygiene are some of the sources for the virus to spread.”
Doctors say that monsoon is the best time for these viruses to spread because of contamination of water and also food. One must not eat outside on a daily basis as they become prone to diseases.
