As of November 20, 2019, this outbreak appears to be ongoing.

11 outbreak-associated cases of hepatitis A have been reported from 3 states (Indiana, Nebraska, and Wisconsin).

Illnesses started on dates ranging from October 15, 2019, to November 5, 2019. 6 people have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.

In interviews, 11/11 (100%) reported eating fresh blackberries. Of 9 cases with known fresh blackberry purchase location information, 9/9 (100%) purchased fresh blackberries from Fresh Thyme Farmers Market.

In 2016 Several states, CDC, and the FDA reported 143 people with hepatitis A have been reported from nine states: Arkansas (1), California (1), Maryland (12), New York (5), North Carolina (4), Oregon (1), Virginia (109), West Virginia (7), and Wisconsin (3). 129 of these cases reported eating a smoothie from Tropical Smoothie Café. There have been no cases reporting illness from this same exposure since September 23, 2016. 14 cases had no direct exposure to Tropical smoothie café. The latest illness onset date among these cases was October 25, 2016. 56 ill people were hospitalized. No deaths were reported.

FDA traceback information indicated that the frozen strawberries served in the Tropical Smoothie Café locations were from the International Company for Agricultural Production & Processing (ICAPP), imported from Egypt. On August 8, 2016, Tropical Smoothie Café reported that they removed the Egyptian frozen strawberries from their restaurants in Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia and switched to another supplier out of an abundance of caution. Information available at this time does not indicate an ongoing risk of hepatitis A virus infection at Tropical Smoothie Cafes.

In 2013 Several states, CDC, and the FDA reported 165 people were confirmed to have become ill from hepatitis A linked to pomegranate arils contained in ‘Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend’ in 10 states: Arizona (23), California (79), Colorado (28), Hawaii (8), New Hampshire (1), New Jersey (1), New Mexico (11), Nevada (6), Utah (3), and Wisconsin (2). One person was exposed to the same pomegranate arils in a different product, ‘Woodstock Frozen Organic Pomegranate Kernels.’ 71 (44%) ill people were hospitalized, and no deaths were reported All ill people who reported eating this product purchased it from Costco markets,

By combining information gained from FDA’s traceback and traceforward investigations and the CDC’s epidemiological investigation, FDA and CDC have determined that the most likely vehicle for the hepatitis A virus appears to be a common shipment of pomegranate seeds from a company in Turkey, Goknur Foodstuffs Import Export Trading. On June 4, 2013, Townsend Farms, Inc. of Fairview, Oregon voluntarily recalled certain lots of its frozen Organic Antioxidant Blend because of potential hepatitis A virus contamination.

Hepatitis A outbreaks associated with fresh, frozen, and minimally processed produce, worldwide, from 1983 to 2016
Year # Cases Implicated food Location of cases Source of implicated food Suspected cause of contamination Reference
1983 24 Raspberries (frozen) Scotland Scotland Infected pickers or packers Reid et al., 1987[1]
1987 5 Raspberries (frozen) Scotland Tayside, Scotland Infected pickers Ramsay and Upton, 1989[2]
1988 202 Iceberg lettuce Kentucky Unknown, suspected to be from Mexico Believed to have occurred prior to distribution, since multiple restaurants involved Rosenblum et al., 1990[3]
1990

35

 

Strawberries (frozen) Montana, Georgia California Suspect an infected picker at farm Sivapalasingam et al., 2004;[4] Niu et al., 1992[5]
1996 30 Salad ingredients Finland Imported salad ingredients Unknown Pebody et al., 1998[6]
1997 256 Strawberries (frozen) Michigan, Maine, Wisconsin, Arizona, Louisiana, Tennessee

Grown in Mexico,

processed and frozen at a single California facility a year before consumption

Inconclusive due to time between harvest and consumption, suspect barehanded contact with berries at harvesting, coupled with few latrines and handwashing facilities on site Hutin et al., 1999[7]
1998 43 Green onions Ohio One of two Mexican farms or a farm in California Believed to be contaminated before arrival at restaurant Dentinger et al., 2001[8]
2000 31 Green onions or tomatoes Kentucky, Florida

Green onions: California or Mexico

Tomatoes: Unknown

Unknown Wheeler et al., 2005[9]; Datta et al., 2001[10]; Fiore, 2004[11]
2002 81 Blueberries New Zealand New Zealand, one orchard Inadequate bathroom facilities in fields, workers had barehanded contact with product, polluted groundwater from nearby latrines a possibility Calder et al., 2003[12]
2003 601 Green onions

Pennsylvania,

Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina

Mexico, two farms Contaminated during or before packing at farm CDC, 2003[13]; Wheeler et al., 2005[14]
2009 562 Tomatoes (semidried) Australia Unknown; imported and domestic product involved Product suspected to be imported due to concurrent outbreaks elsewhere at the time, source of contamination unknown Donnan et al., 2012[15]
2009 13

Tomatoes

(semidried)

Netherlands Unknown; imported product suspected Identical strain to the 2009 Australian outbreak Petrignani et al., 2010[16]
2010 59

Tomatoes

(semidried)

France Likely Turkey, single batch of product Unable to determine when and where contamination occurred. Virus was slightly different from one in the 2009 Australian and Dutch outbreaks. Gallot et al., 2011[17]
2012 9 Pomegranate seeds (frozen) Canada Egypt Suspect product contamination before export. Some history of travel to endemic areas among workers at Canadian processing facility, but less likely as only one product was associated with illness. CDC 2013[18]; Swinkels et al., 2014[19]
2013 103

Strawberries (frozen)

Other frozen berries may have been involved

Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden Suspected Egypt and Morocco based on virus strain and import history Unknown, some cases matched the strain of the larger 2013 European outbreak (see below) Nordic Outbreak Investigation Team, 2013[20]
2013 1589 Berries (frozen) Italy (90% of cases), Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden Multiple food items containing frozen mixed berries (cakes, smoothies); Bulgarian blackberries and Polish redcurrants were the most common ingredients in the implicated lots Unknown, no single source found. Some cases also related to travel to Italy. Severi et al., 2015[21]; EFSA 2014[22]; Chiapponi et al., 2014[23]; Rizzo et al., 2013[24]; Guzman-Herrador et al., 2014[25]; Fitzgerald et al., 2014[26]
2013 165 Pomegranate arils (frozen) Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wisconsin Turkey Unknown Collier et al., 2014[27]; CDC 2013[28]
2016 143 Strawberries (frozen) Arkansas, California, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin Egypt Unknown CDC 2016[29]

 

[1]           Reid, T., Robinson, H. (1987). Frozen raspberries and hepatitis A. Epidemiol Infect, 98: 109–112.

[2]           Ramsay, C. N. and Upton, P. A. (1989). Hepatitis A and frozen raspberries. Lancet, 1: 43–44.

[3]           Rosenblum, L. S., Mirkin, I. R., Allen, D. T., Safford, S., Hadler, S. C. (1990). A multifocal outbreak of hepatitis A traced to commercially distributed lettuce. American Journal of Public Health, 80(9): 1075-1079.

[4]           Sivapalasingam, S., Friedman, C. R., Cohen, L., Taube, R. V. (2004). Fresh produce: a growing cause of outbreaks of foodborne illness in the United States, 1973 through 1997. J Food Prot, 67: 2342-2353.

[5]           Niu, M. T., Polish, L. B., Robertson, B. H. (1992). Multistate outbreak of hepatitis A associated with frozen strawberries. J Infect Dis 166: 518-524.

[6]           Pebody, R. G., Leino, T., Ruutu, P., Kinnunen, L., Davidkin, I., Nohynek, H., & Leinikki, P. (1998). Foodborne outbreaks of hepatitis A in a low endemic country: an emerging problem? Epidemiology and infection, 120(1): 55-59.

[7]           Hutin, Y. J., Pool, V., Cramer, E. H., Nainan, O. V., Weth, J., Williams, I. T. et al. (1999). A multistate, foodborne outbreak of hepatitis A. New England Journal of Medicine, 340(8): 595-602.

[8]           Dentinger, C. M., Bower, W. A., Nainan, O. V., Cotter, S. M., Myers, G., Dubusky, L. M., Fowler, S., Salehi, E. D. P., and Bell, B. P. (2001). An outbreak of hepatitis A associated with green onions. J Infect Dis, 183: 1273-1276.

[9]           Wheeler, C., Vogt, T. M., Armstrong, G. L., Vaughan, G., Weltman, A., Nainan, O. V. et al. (2005). An outbreak of hepatitis A associated with green onions. New England Journal of Medicine, 353(9): 890-897.

[10]         Datta, S. D., Traeger, M. S., & Nainan, O. V. (2001). Identification of a multi-state outbreak of hepatitis A associated with green onions using a novel molecular epidemiologic technique [abstract 896]. In Program and abstracts of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Alexandra, VA: Infectious Diseases Society of America (Vol. 192).

[11]         Fiore, A. E. (2004). Hepatitis A transmitted by food. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 38(5): 705-715.

[12]         Calder, L. , Simmons, G., Thornley, G. (2003). An outbreak of hepatitis A associated with consumption of raw blueberries. Epidemiol Infect, 131: 745-751

[13]         Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2003). Hepatitis A outbreak associated with green onions at a restaurant–Monaca, Pennsylvania, 2003. MMWR, 52(47): 1155-1157. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5247a5.htm

[14]         Wheeler, C., Vogt, T. M., Armstrong, G. L., Vaughan, G., Weltman, A., Nainan, O. V. et al. (2005). An outbreak of hepatitis A associated with green onions. New England Journal of Medicine, 353(9): 890-897.

[15]         Donnan, E. J., Fielding, J. E., Gregory, J. E., et al. (2012). A multistate outbreak of hepatitis A associated with semidried tomatoes in Australia, 2009. Clin Infect Dis, 54: 775–781.

[16]         Petrignani, M., Harms, M., Verhoef, L. (2010). Update: a food-borne outbreak of hepatitis A in The Netherlands related to semi-dried tomatoes in oil, January-February 2010. Euro Surveillance, 15(20): 19572.

[17]         Gallot, C., Grout, L., Roque-Afonso, A., Couturier, E., Carrillo-Santisteve, P., Pouey, J. et al. (2011). Hepatitis A Associated with Semidried Tomatoes, France, 2010. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 17(3): 566-567.

[18]         Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2013). Multistate outbreak of hepatitis A virus infections linked to pomegranate seeds from Turkey (Final Update). Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/outbreaks/2013/a1b-03-31/

[19]         Swinkels, H. M., Kuo, M., Embree, G., Andonov, A., Henry, B., Buxton, J. A. (2014). Hepatitis A outbreak in British Columbia, Canada: the roles of established surveillance, consumer loyalty cards and collaboration, February to May 2012. Euro Surveillance, 19: 20792.

[20]         Nordic Outbreak Investigation Team C (2013). Joint analysis by the Nordic countries of a hepatitis A outbreak, October 2012 to June 2013: frozen strawberries suspected. Euro Surveillance, 18(27): 20520.

[21]         Severi, E., Verhoef, L., Thornton, L., Guzman-Herrador, B. R., Faber, M., Sundqvist, L. et al. (2015). Large and prolonged food-borne multistate hepatitis A outbreak in Europe associated with consumption of frozen berries, 2013 to 2014. Euro Surveillance, 20(29): 1-9.

[22]         European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). (2014). Tracing of food items in connection to a multinational hepatitis A virus outbreak in Europe. EFSA Journal, 12(9): 3821-4007. Available at http:// www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/3821.htm

[23]         Chiapponi, C., Pavoni, E., Bertasi, B., Baioni, L., Scaltriti, E., Chiesa, E., et al. (2014). Isolation and genomic sequence of hepatitis A virus from mixed frozen berries in Italy. Food Environ Virol, 6(3): 202-206.

[24]         Rizzo, C., Alfonsi, V., Bruni, R., Busani, L., Ciccaglione, A., De Medici, D., et al. (2013). Ongoing outbreak of hepatitis A in Italy: preliminary report as of 31 May 2013. Euro Surveillance, 18(27): 20518.

[25]         Guzman-Herrador, B., Jensvoll, L., Einoder-Moreno, M.,
Lange, H., Myking, S., Nygard, K., et al. (2014). Ongoing hepatitis A outbreak in Europe 2013 to 2014: imported berry mix cake suspected to be the source of infection in Norway. Euro Surveillance, 19(15): 20775.

[26]         Fitzgerald, M., Thornton, L., O’Gorman, J., O Connor, L., Garvey, P., Boland, M., et al. (2014). Outbreak of hepatitis A infection associated with the consumption of frozen berries, Ireland, 2013 – linked to an international outbreak. Euro Surveillance: European communicable disease bulletin, 19(43).

[27]         Collier, M. G., Khudyakov, Y. E., Selvage, D., Adams-Cameron, M., Chiepson, E., Cronquist, A., et al. (2014). Outbreak of hepatitis A in the USA associated with frozen pomegranate arils imported from Turkey: an epidemiological case study. Lancet Infectious Diseases, 14(10): 976-981.

[28]         Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2013) – Multistate outbreak of hepatitis A virus infections linked to pomegranate seeds from Turkey (Final Update), supra note 85.

[29]         Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2016). 2016 – Multistate outbreak of hepatitis A linked to frozen strawberries (Final Update). Available at https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/outbreaks/2016/hav-strawberries.htm

Hepatitis A:  Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of Hepatitis A outbreaks. The Hepatitis A lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of Hepatitis A and other foodborne illness outbreaks and have recovered over $650 million for clients.  Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our Hepatitis A lawyers have litigated Hepatitis A cases stemming from outbreaks traced to a variety of sources, such as green onions, lettuce and restaurant food.  The law firm has brought Hepatitis A lawsuits against such companies as Costco, Subway, McDonald’s, Red Robin, Chipotle, Quiznos and Carl’s Jr.  We proudly represented the family of Donald Rockwell, who died after consuming hepatitis A tainted food and Richard Miller, who required a liver transplant after eating food at a Chi-Chi’s restaurant.

If you or a family member became ill with a Hepatitis A infection after consuming food and you’re interested in pursuing a legal claim, contact the Marler Clark Hepatitis A attorneys for a free case evaluation.