Three Wests Tigers players will be tested for Hepatitis A, after eating what they believe were contaminated berries.
PARENTS at three Queensland schools have been told their children may have eaten infected berries at the centre of a growing wave of hepatitis A cases that have now spread to a fourth state.
The Education Department last night confirmed three schools have so far reported using the frozen berries that have been pulled from shelves with 13 people now ill from eating fruit contaminated with faecal matter.
A checklist of symptoms has been sent to worried parents who have been asked to be on the lookout.
The Education Department last night would not give the names or regions of schools, but Trinity Beach State School in Cairns sounded the alarm, saying its tuckshop featured Nanna’s frozen berries in smoothies bought by some of its 870 students.
Yet another frozen berry product has been recalled as the Nanna’s Hepatitis A scare deepens
Principal Matt Denzin said staff searched the tuckshop freezer and disposed of any related products on Monday.
He said the tuckshop conveners confirmed “about five” smoothies were made and sold using the berries over the past three weeks.
“These numbers make the risk of infection very minimal,” he said. “We’re feeling extremely fortunate and reassured knowing that there’s been such little exposure to these berries in our school.
A health warning has been issued for 1kg packets of Nanna’s Frozen Mixed Berries. Picture: Brendan Francis
“That said, there are probably other local schools who would have been using these berries too, so hopefully they are treating this threat seriously as well.”
Australia’s chief medical officer has estimated one in 100 people who ate the contaminated imports will contract the disease, but their illness could vary wildly from no symptoms to being ill for several weeks.
Nanna’s and Creative Gourmet brand raspberries and mixed berries have been recalled and five Queenslanders have fallen ill. Yesterday, two more Australians were struck down as WA recorded its first case, with customers in NSW and Victoria also sick. Poor hygiene and contaminated water at a Chinese packing factory is thought to be responsible.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has promised to look at tougher screening but had declared it is up to companies not to “poison” people.
“Well, the bottom line is that companies shouldn’t poison their customers,” he said. “Businesses have an obligation to do the right thing by their customers … to ensure that the product they sell is safe.”
It comes as the Red Cross has received at least 300 calls from blood donors nationally to report they have eaten the contaminated berries.
Hepatitis A affects the liver, causing abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and jaundice. It is not deadly but can be severe in young children and the elderly.