Danger of hepatitis lurking in a fry-up made with EU meat
Sausage bug has been dubbed ‘the Brexit virus’
TENS of thousands of Britons are being infected with a potentially deadly illness after eating imported bacon and sausages riddled with what has been dubbed the ‘Brexit virus’.
The new strain of hepatitis E (HEV) causes a nasty flu-like illness that can lead to death in severe circumstances and is linked to pig farms in France, Holland, Germany and Denmark.
Experts believe that 10 per cent of sausages imported from Europe now carry the strain, which infects more than 60,000 in Britain annually.
Figures from Public Health England showed the number of severe cases had more than trebled since 2010, with 1,244 reported in 2016 compared to 368 six years earlier. Experts have warned pregnant women and transplant patients to avoid the meat altogether as they are especially at risk.
Dr Harry Dalton, a gastroenterologist at Exeter University, told a conference on neurological infectious diseases HEV had become a major threat, the Sunday Times reported.
He said: ‘I call it the Brexit virus. It attacks the liver and nerves, with a peak in May. It is particularly dangerous for people with suppressed immune systems such as those who have had organ transplants and possibly cancer. The virus seems to come from Europe.’
Hepatitis E used to be a mainly tropical disease, but has now mutated to infect livestock, and is endemic in pigs.
Humans can catch the disease by eating undercooked pork, sausages, bacon and pork pies. Once eaten, the virus is carried to the liver. It attacks the liver and the nerves, and can cause those with a weak immune system to become dangerously ill
The strain is only killed in the meat if people cook the food for longer than normal.
The Food Standards Agency said the virus had spread to most British pig herds with 93 per cent of animals infected and 6 per cent producing enough of the virus to infect humans.
Dr Dalton said nobody should eat ‘pink’ pork and advised pregnant women and transplant patients not to eat pork at all.
The virus is heat resistant and can survive cooking unless the meat is heated to above 71C for at least two minutes. People are advised to cook bacon until it is crispy, and sausages for at least 20 minutes until they are piping hot.
One victim, Roy Van Den Heuvel, said he blamed his love of salami for the hepatitis E infection that put him in intensive care and left his shoulders and diaphragm partially paralysed forever.
He told The Sunday Times: ‘It started out like flu, but my arms and shoulders became so painful I had to go to hospital. They put me straight in intensive care.
‘The virus had attacked the nerves in my armpits and diaphragm. I couldn’t breathe properly.
‘Doctors traced the strain to salami, probably from Holland. It is cured, not cooked, and the virus survives in the fatty bits.’
Mr Van Den Heuvel, 61, can no longer work as a gardener and spends two to three hours a day trying to clear his lungs.