As of July 20, another patient has been identified in an ongoing outbreak of hepatitis A infections traced to frozen organic strawberries. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 10 people from four states have been infected. Four people have been hospitalized. The states where the sick people reside are Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii.
The hepatitis A virus strain causing illnesses in this outbreak is genetically identical to the strain that caused a foodborne hepatitis A outbreak in 2022, which was linked to fresh organic strawberries imported from Baja California.
All 10 patients involved in this outbreak reported eating frozen strawberries two to seven weeks before becoming ill. All of the implicated strawberries came from Baja California, Mexico, and are from a common supplier, according to investigators with the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration.
Several recalls have been initiated, but the long life of frozen berries suggests that some of the recalled products are likely still in consumers’ homes. Traceback and epidemiological investigations show that people with outbreak-associated cases purchased the same retail brand of frozen organic strawberries prior to becoming ill.
