25 September, 2017
Hawke’s Bay District Health Board is investigating four confirmed cases of Paratyphoid Fever and is following up three suspect cases.
All four confirmed cases have required hospital care at Hawke’s Bay Hospital. At least two of the cases ate mussels gathered from Napier’s Ahuriri area. The district health board is also concerned that mussels from the same area, may have been eaten at a Tangi at the Tangoio Marae 11 days ago, and is following that up.
Medical Officer of Health Nick Jones said Paratyphoid was a serious illness and a notifiable disease. “It is most important people get medical care or call HealthLine if they are unwell.”
People with the disease will have a fever, chills, headache, possibly a rash and may also get severe vomiting and diarrhoea.
Paratyphoid generally occurs within 10 days of consuming contaminated food or water but symptoms may take as long as four weeks to develop. Anyone feeling sick and who consumed shellfish or has been in contact with anyone who had eaten shellfish from the Napier Marina should contact their family doctor or they could call HealthLine 24/7 0800 611 116.
Dr Jones said the district health board had teams out in the community working to follow-up with anyone that was sick, but the most important thing was to get medical help if you or someone you knew was sick.
“People with Paratyphoid can carry the bacteria in their blood and in their stomach and gut so it is possible for it to be passed on through faeces. Hand washing was extremely important to help prevent infecting other people as you can get paratyphoid if you eat or drink things that have been handled by a person who has the bacteria,” Dr Jones said.
More information on how to protect yourself and others is available from here: Typhoid-and-Paratyphoid-Information-Sheet.pdf
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