"The new patients are from widely separated parts of Spain such as Andalusia, Galicia, Navarre and Catalonia. This indicates that the virus is present in most parts of the country. These 40 cases were identified through the analysis of samples taken from more than 250 patients from 10 hospitals," said researcher Antonio Rivero Juarez, who specializes in the study of hepatitis at the Maimonides Biomedical Research Institute in Córdoba.