Twenty-three children from Draguseni village of Straseni district were hospitalized with viral hepatitis A. Silvia Botnaru, of the Public Health Center, has told IPN that all the children got infected after they drank water from the well, which was contaminated by animals. The people in the village breed sheep. The children admitted to the hospital live near the meadow where the sheep are pastured.
The first cases of infection were detected on July 9. Most of the wells in the village have been disinfected with calcium hypochlorite. There are 45 wells in Draguseni. Doctors advised the villagers to boil the water before consuming it and to wash the hands with soap as often as possible.
According to a communiqué of the Public Health Center, the number of cases of viral hepatitis A has increased in Moldova. In January – June, there were recorded 29 cases of viral hepatitis A, three times more compared with the corresponding period last year.
Hepatitis A is an acute viral infection that can be contracted by persons of any age. It affects mainly children of preschool age. The infection is principally transmitted by fecal-oral ways, directly by unwashed hands or indirectly by different objects.
