13-05-2025
What we know about the surge of hepatitis A in the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is seeing a surge of hepatitis A infections that does not appear to be slowing down.
The country recorded 450 cases and six deaths from hepatitis A in the first four months of 2025, compared with 636 cases and two deaths all of last year.
But Czech health officials said the actual number of infections is likely much higher because of how difficult it is to track the spread of the virus, which causes liver inflammation that can be fatal in rare cases.
'We know from experience that even one confirmed case can subsequently mean a big problem,' the State Health Institute (SZÚ) said in a statement.
It's not a common infection. In 2022, there were 4,548 cases reported across 30 European countries.
Here's what we know so far about the developing hepatitis A situation in the Czech Republic.
People can be infected after contact with a sick person's stool, for example, via unwashed hands, contaminated food or water, or dirty door handles.
Places with poor sanitation and hygiene are the ideal breeding ground for the virus.
Most infected people do not have symptoms, but about 10 per cent experience serious health problems that can lead to liver failure and death, Czech officials said.
Adults aged 50 and older and people who already have chronic liver disease are at higher risk.
Other symptoms include fever, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, nausea, and jaundice, which is when the eyes and skin take on a yellow hue.
It usually takes two to four weeks for infected people to develop symptoms, and they can shed the virus for a week or two beforehand, meaning people can spread hepatitis A without even knowing they are infected.
The capital city, Prague, and the surrounding Central Bohemian region, as well as the Moravia-Silesian region bordering Poland and Slovakia, have reported the most hepatitis A cases this year.
The virus is spreading among children, teenagers, young adults, and people engaged in 'risky behaviour,' officials said. In Prague, for example, nearly one in three patients are homeless, and many use drugs.
But the number of people who are susceptible to hepatitis A because they have not been vaccinated or in contact with the virus is 'gradually increasing,' they added.
Health officials encouraged people to get vaccinated against hepatitis A. Two doses taken six to 18 months apart can help protect people against infection.
The jab, which costs approximately 1,700 CZK (around €68), is not required, but it is included in some health insurance programmes, officials said.
Because many infected people are homeless, Czech health workers have distributed the vaccine to shelters for free. People who work closely with drug users and those living on the streets are also being vaccinated in Prague.
But 'it is very difficult for these people to comply with anti-epidemic measures, and contact tracing is especially problematic,' making it harder to control the spread of the virus, officials said.
Last year, officials tracked down 6,375 contacts of people infected with hepatitis A.
People identified as close contacts who have not been vaccinated are prohibited from going to public swimming pools, saunas, summer camps, or other big events.
Blockbuster weight loss drugs may help people avoid obesity-related cancers, new research suggests.
Obesity contributes to 13 types of cancer, and health experts are worried about the growing toll as obesity rates continue to rise globally.
The new study, published in the Lancet journal eClinicalMedicine, suggests that weight loss drugs such as Saxena or Trulicity could help curb these risks.
Researchers compared nearly 6,400 people with obesity and diabetes who either underwent bariatric surgery or took GLP-1 receptor agonists, which are weight loss drugs that work by mimicking a hormone in the body that makes people feel full for longer.
In the years after their treatments, there were 5.76 obesity-related cancer cases per 1,000 person-years among patients who had bariatric surgery, compared with a rate of 5.64 among those who took GLP-1s.
Because surgery is more effective at lowering people's weight, the researchers concluded that weight-loss drugs could be even better at preventing obesity-related cancers – to the tune of 41 per cent, they said.
'Our study found a similar incidence of obesity-related cancer among patients treated with first-generation [GLP-1 drugs] and with bariatric surgery… despite the relative advantage of surgery in maximising weight loss,' Yael Wolff Sagy, a study author and a researcher at Clalit Health Services in Israel, said in a statement.
'But accounting for this advantage revealed the direct effect of GLP-1RAs beyond weight-loss to be 41 per cent more effective at preventing obesity-related cancer'.
Notably, though, when the researchers took people's ability to manage their blood sugar levels into account, the medicines' edge over surgery dropped to 13 per cent.
The benefit from the drugs could be because they help reduce inflammation, the researchers said, adding that newer medicines such as Ozempic, Mounjaro, or Zepbound could have an even greater effect.
'We do not yet fully understand how GLP-1s work, but this study adds to the growing evidence showing that weight loss alone cannot completely account for the metabolic, anti-cancer, and many other benefits that these medications provide,' Sagy said.
The study is the latest to suggest drugs designed to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes could be used for much more than weight loss. Other research indicates they could help people with addiction, dementia, liver problems, and more.
But the analysis has some limitations. Only 298 people were diagnosed with obesity-related cancers during the study period, for example, and it's not clear whether people sustained their initial weight loss over time.
Larger studies with more patients could affect the statistical analysis that identified the 41 per cent risk reduction from medicines compared with surgery.
Independent experts also noted that the study was observational, meaning the authors reviewed existing data, rather than conducting a randomised control trial where some patients receive a drug and others get a placebo or dummy treatment in order to compare their outcomes.
Randomised trials are considered the gold standard for medical research.
'Larger outcome trials are needed to understand links between such medicines and cancer risks, and several should report over the next five years,' Naveed Sattar, a professor of cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow in the UK, said in a statement.
'It is better to wait to see further large outcome trials versus placebo to get closer to the truth'.
