While people who have stayed at Auberge Chez Jean should be advised by public health to be vaccinated against hepatitis A, because they are at risk of infection, the disease is still rare in North America.
• Also read: Hepatitis A: People who have stayed at Montreal hostels should be vaccinated
This is what family doctor Benoit Hebel said in an interview with LCN.
“It’s rare that we contract this in our North American communities because the hygiene measures are so good. But many Quebecers head south in the winter to the Dominican Republic or Cuba, where there is a lot of hepatitis A and hepatitis B,” he explains.
Hepatitis A is transmitted in the same way as the gastrointestinal tract.
“This means that we eliminate the virus in our feces, contaminate our hands and contaminate surfaces and people when they touch this and put their hands in their mouths,” the expert continues. That’s why it can be common, for example, in buffets.
Its symptoms are multiple and complications are possible.
However, hepatitis A remains a very harmless disease in the vast majority of cases.
“Symptoms are relatively limited in time, a few weeks, and it’s a disease that often resolves itself in most cases,” says the family doctor.
“Cases where people develop fulminant hepatitis or liver failure that can lead to death or require a liver transplant, which is very rare, less than one percent of hepatitis A leads to these complications, but it’s worse for people who already have a liver.” disease,” he continues.
Mr. Hebel recommends the vaccine to prevent this disease, especially for those who live in the South.
“It allows you to protect yourself,” he said. We won’t necessarily heal faster. You should know that in all cases of hepatitis that exist, we fortunately have vaccines for two of these hepatitis A and B. And even in the usual vaccination schedule for young people.
Watch the full interview in the video above
