Leeds Schools Offer Hepatitis Vaccine After Outbreak in LS9
Two Leeds schools are offering students Hepatitis A vaccines after a recent outbreak in the LS9 area. Richmond Hill Primary School is holding a meeting this afternoon so parents can talk to health experts about the vaccine - which won't be given without their consent. Hepatitis A is a viral infection which affects the liver. It is fairly rare in the UK but 'a small number' of cases have been confirmed in the area in the past few weeks.
Symptoms include sickness, stomach pain, diarrohoea and jaundice. "It's usually spread by contamiated food or water," says Dr Michael Gent, Consultant in Communicable Disease Control with Public Health England in Leeds. "We usually see cases of it coming back from countries where there are higher rates of it. We do see that children who get the infection sometimes don't show any symptoms but can spread the infection."
Public Health England, Leeds City Council and the NHS in Leeds are working together to offer Hepatitis A vaccination to those in the community most likely to have been in contact with the cases.
As a result of an increase in confirmed cases in the LS9 area, vaccinations have been offered to certain parts of the local community as a preventative measure.
"The symptoms can be like flu, so joint pains, felling unwell and vomiting," says Dr Gent.
"The classic symptom is yellow skin and yellowing around the whites of the eyes.
"Adults in particular can feel quite unwell with it and might be ill for a couple of weeks, but the vast majority of people will make a full recovery.
"It's not a common disease in the UK but we will get a number of imported cases - say in Leeds, probably 10 a year or something like that. In this instance it's been brought in by somebody travelling and because of the social contacts, it's spread beyond the initial close contacts and got out into the local community.
“We have been working closely with the schools where cases have been confirmed, to advise staff and parents of these good hand hygiene measures to reduce the risk of the infection spreading further, and to advise that they can seek advice from their GP if they have any concerns.”
In a post on Richmond Hill Primary's website, the school advise parents not to panic, and that vaccinations will be administered next week.