More hep A berry cases

Two new cases of hepatitis A have been detected in the past week linked to the imported frozen berry outbreak, as officials say they can’t be ‘‘absolute’’ about the source. It brings the total number of confirmed local cases linked to the outbreak to 28, according to the Ministry of Health. Of these, 12 (43%) have required hospital care. As of November 24, 26 cases have an identical, or very similar sequence profile – indicating they likely came from the same source. Sequencing of the remaining two cases is pending. Three cases with the outbreak sequence profile did not report consuming berries. In early October, Pams – a division of supermarket giant Foodstuffs – announced a voluntary recall of imported frozen berry products from Serbia as a precaution.