JAM Lecture 2018: Professor Albert Bosch

Hepatitis A occurs sporadically and in epidemics worldwide, with a tendency for cyclic recurrences. The hepatitis A virus is one of the most frequent causes of foodborne infection. Epidemics related to contaminated food or water can emerge suddenly and have massive impact, such as the epidemic in Shanghai in 1988 that affected about 300,000 people.

Hepatitis A viruses persist in the environment and can withstand food-production processes routinely used to inactivate or minimise bacterial pathogens.