By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs issued a nationwide warning over hepatitis A as the number of those infected has more than doubled in just one year.

According to the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 200 cases have been reported a week this year, 2.1 times higher than 2008. The disease was almost considered eradicated from Korea as it had been dormant since the 1970s, but last year saw a dramatic increase, health authorities said.

Hepatitis A is mostly related to hygiene problems since it is transmitted by contaminated food or drinking water. The annual number of cases worldwide is around 10 million, mostly in so-called underdeveloped or developing countries.

Hepatitis A produces a high fever, nausea, fatigue, lethargy, stomachache and jaundice, and has an incubation period of between two to six week.

According to the health ministry, symptoms in childhood are less severe, but adults can experience major complications.

Dr. Yoon Su-ji of Wooridle Internal Medicine Clinic said it was mainly young people who were catching the disease these days. ``It is mostly people in their 20s and 30s, who catch the disease these days. It seems that elderly people have already suffered from it in their youth and that confers life long immunity,'' she said. The ministry report also shows that about 70-80 percent of the reported patients are 20 and 30-somethings.

Some health experts said young people traveling to countries where the level of hygiene isn't so high, or people eating imported foods contaminated with the virus could be the cause of the prevalence of the disease.

The KDCD advised people traveling to Southeast Asian countries and Africa to have vaccinations, which is the only effective way to prevent it.

Also, the government advised people to wash their hands more often, drink boiled water or ``safe'' water as well as to cook food.

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr