A woman who has been consuming Nanna’s frozen berries for the past month says she was devastated to learn from doctors that she had the tell-tale signs of hepatitis A.
Nine people – three in Victoria, four in Queensland and two in New South Wales – have become sick with hepatitis A after eating Nanna’s frozen mixed berries, prompting a national recall of the one-kilogram bag product.
Trudie Sims, 49, from Ballarat, is potentially the 10th case.
She had been using the Nanna’s frozen berries to make smoothies until last night when her partner alerted her to the health scare.
Ms Sims, whose eyelids have turned yellow, said her boyfriend rushed her hospital.
“I’m really scared and I’m really angry,” she said.
“I’m massively jaundice and my liver’s pretty crappy and these are the first signs of hep A from the berries.”
Victim assumed hepatitis A symptoms were flu
Hepatitis A attacks the liver, causing jaundice, nausea and vomiting for up to eight weeks.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the disease is primarily spread when an uninfected or unvaccinated person ingests food or water contaminated with the faeces of an infected person.
Ms Sims said her health had been deteriorating over the past fortnight but she assumed she had the flu.
“I got sick over the last two weeks and I’ve got more tired and have been vomiting over the last few days, and probably last Wednesday I just couldn’t talk because my throat was so swollen,” she said.
Ms Sims is waiting on the results of her blood test for confirmation she has the virus but said her doctors seemed confident she had hepatitis A.
“He (the doctor) said, ‘I don’t want to upset you but I’m pretty much saying this is what you’ve got’,” she said.
Ms Sims said she broke down when she heard this news.
In a note from her doctor seen by the ABC, Ms Sims was provided with a list of measures to help prevent the spread of the virus.
“Hepatitis A has an excellent prognosis with patients making a complete recovery,” it said.
“Patients should be reassured that mortality is less than 5 per cent. Admission to hospital is not usually neccessary.”
Doctors also told her to stop preparing food for others and to maintain a high-standard of hygiene.
“I’m generally a really healthy person and to get sick through buying stuff that I thought was healthy, I’m pretty upset about that,” she said.
Poor hygiene amongst Chinese workers as well as potentially contaminated water supplies in China are thought to be the likely causes of the outbreak.
Ms Sims said she was angry the berries were not sourced locally.
“I’m angry because we have our own beautiful fruits here in Australia but Australia’s gone and imported all this stuff and that’s made us sick,” she said.