The inflammation of the liver, otherwise known as hepatitis, is caused mainly by alcohol, certain drugs and the hepatitis virus. There are six different hepatitis viruses that can cause this disease; the hepatitis A virus has been associated with mussels. You risk developing hepatitis A if you eat mussels that are raw or lightly cooked, but there is still a risk of developing this disease even if you eat them cooked.
Hepatitis
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 4.4 million people in the United States have chronic viral hepatitis; an estimated 80,000 people become newly infected with the virus every year. Hepatitis is the medical term for the inflammation of the liver, a disease that is primarily caused by the hepatitis virus, drugs and alcohol. Scientists have identified six hepatitis viruses: hepatitis A, B, C, D, E and G. An acute viral hepatitis infection can happen suddenly and go through predictable stages, then it usually resolves on its own within four to eight weeks. A chronic infection lasts longer than six months.
Types of Hepatitis Virus
You can develop hepatitis A or hepatitis E if you consume even a minuscule amount of the fecal matter of someone infected with the virus. Since the vaccine for hepatitis A was introduced in 1995, the number of people with this virus has decreased, according to "Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment." Hepatitis B, which also has a vaccine, can spread through sexual contact and needles; needles, tattoos and body piercing can transmit hepatitis C. You can only develop hepatitis D if you have hepatitis B, while hepatitis G is seen in IV drug users, people on dialysis and hemophiliacs. Hepatitis E is rare in the United States, but hepatitis A can spread via contaminated shellfish like mussels.
Mussels and Hepatitis A
Luciana Croci explained in the November 2005 issue of the "International Journal of Food Microbiology" how eating shellfish puts you at risk for developing hepatitis A, especially if you eat the shellfish raw or rare. Since cooking may not kill the virus either, a research study was done to determine whether cooking mussels in three traditional Italian recipes could kill it; the recipes called for three different temperatures. The results of the study were that the hepatitis A virus was killed in only one recipe, mussels in tomato sauce, but not in the other two. The research team concluded that the hepatitis A virus can resist being killed at certain temperatures.
High-Pressure Processing of Mussels
Mussels are put in sanitary seawater for two to three days after they are harvested to lower the amount of fecal matter, according to Valentina Terio in the May 2010 issue of "Food and Environmental Virology." It is known, however, that this does not remove any potential hepatitis A virus, because the virus is in the tissue of the mussels. Monitoring the amount of fecal matter in mussels, which indicates the amount of contamination with human waste, and "purifying" them in sanitary seawater is not a reliable way of removing hepatitis A. The researchers recommend a method called high-pressure processing, which has been shown to inactivate the norovirus and Vibrio bacteria. In this study, the greater the pressure, the less hepatitis A contamination in the mussels.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Viral Hepatitis
- "Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2011"; Stephen McPhee, M.D., and Maxine Papadakis, M.D.; 2011
- "Food & Environmental Virology"; High Pressure Inactivation of HAV Within Mussels; Valentina Terio; 2010
- "Internal Medicine Clerkship Guide"; Douglas Paauw, M.D., et al.; 2003
- "International Journal of Food Microbiology"; Resistance of HAV in Mussels; L. Croci et al.; 2005
- "The Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics"; Gopa Green, M.D., et al.; 2004
