Pets And Some Meat Consumption Play Important Role In HEV, New Study Says

Hepatitis E, like Hepatitis A, is a virus that can be spread through food.  It does not get as much attention as Hepatitis A because it is thought to be rare.  But, how that is understood may be changing.

The prestigious Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is out with a study that concludes that exposure to the Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) is fairly common--but disease rarely follows the exposure.

The study found antibodies indicating exposure to HEV in 21 percent of the U.S. population between 1988 and 1994. HEV is a major cause of viral hepatitis in many developing countries, but how it is spread in developed countries is not fully known. The study is published in the July 1 issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

“Our study shows that animals could play an important role in the spread of HEV in the U.S. Having a dog or pet in the home or consuming meats like liver and other organs were significantly associated with increased odds of exposure to HEV,” said lead author Mark H. Kuniholm, PhD, a 2007 graduate of the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

More can be found in the School's press release or by going to the JID site.

American Society for Microbiology honors Stanley A. Plotkin

The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Maurice Hilleman/Merck Award has gone to Stanley A. Plotkin, M.D., Professor Emeritus, Wistar Institute and the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, for his lifetime of dedication to vaccinology, including his role in developing vaccines for Hepatitis A.

This award, established in the memory of Maurice Hilleman, honors major contributions to pathogenesis, vaccine discovery, vaccine development, and/or control of vaccine-preventable diseases.

Dr. Hilleman is credited with developing over 40 vaccines, including those that prevent measles, mumps, rubella, Haemophilus influenzae type b, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and chickenpox. These vaccines save millions of lives each year, and he is frequently credited with saving more lives than any other scientist of the 20th century.

Dr. Plotkin received his M.D. from the State University of New York College of Medicine, Brooklyn, and is credited with two major accomplishments. Human viruses had been attenuated by serial passage in non-human cells, a technique employed by Dr. Hilleman for the measles, mumps, and first rubella vaccines. In the 1970s, Plotkin took a strain of rubella virus from an infected fetus and attenuated it by low-temperature adaption in fetal embryo fibroblast cells. This work led to Dr. Plotkin being the first to attenuate a human virus by adaptation to low temperature and the first to make a vaccine in human cells.

Dr. Plotkin developed RA 27/3, a rubella vaccine and the first licensed vaccine made in human cells. RA 27/3 is used worldwide and as a result, the U.S., Canada, several Latin American countries, and the English speaking Caribbean Islands are free of rubella. It is expected that by 2010 the Americas will be rubella free, and by 2016, so will the European and Central Asian regions.

"Hepatitis A" Tops Texas Vaccine Requirements For School-Aged Children

About a dozen states comply with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations for vaccines for school-aged children.   The states have the power to enforce vaccine requirements at the school house door.

Since about 180,000 people become sick with Hepatitis A each year, and since that includes about 60,000 children, CDC recommends Hepatitis A vaccines for children entering Kindergarten for the 2009-10 school year. 

Here is the vaccine schedule as being enforced in Texas:

  • Hepatitis A vaccine — Students entering Kindergarten must have two doses.
  • Measles, mumps, rubella vaccine — Students entering Kindergarten must have two doses. Students in grades 1-12 must continue to meet the state requirements, which is two doses of a measles-containing vaccine and one dose each of mumps and rubella vaccine.
  • Vericella vaccine — Students entering kindergarten and seventh grade must have had two doses. Students in grades 1-6 and 8-12 must continue to meet the state requirements.
  • Tetanus, diphtheria, acellular peryussis-containing vaccine — Students entering seventh grade must have one dose of Tdap vaccine. Students in seventh grade must have had a booster dose of Tdap, but only if it has been five years since their last dose of a tetanus vaccine. Students in grades 8-12 must have had a booster dose of Tdap if it has been 10 years since their last dose.
  •  Meningococcal vaccine — Students entering seventh grade must have one dose.

Happy Hepatitis Awareness Day! Hepatitis A & B Are Preventable Diseases

Today (05/19/09) was Hepatitis Awareness Day in the United States and around the World. Many local health departments marked the occasion by offering free vaccines for Hepatitis A & B.

From the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH), we pass on this Hepatitis Awareness Day statement:

“Liver disease is a serious public health issue in our nation, as it currently affects more than 30 million Americans. Diseases such as Hepatitis are often referred to as “silent diseases” because liver damage can gradually occur over many years before being discovered, which often happens once the damage is irreparable,” stated DPH Commissioner Dr. J. Robert Galvin. “Nationally, hepatitis B and C are major causes of liver cancer, liver transplantation and even death.”

Hepatitis does not discriminate and affects all ages, genders, races, ethnicities and income levels. Learning about liver wellness, hepatitis A and B vaccination (there is no vaccine for hepatitis C), and risk factors are important ways to recognize and prevent the spread of these diseases.

Dr. Galvin added that “hepatitis A and B are vaccine preventable diseases, yet they continue to be the most commonly reported vaccine preventable diseases. Getting vaccinated, especially if you are at high risk, provides the best protection from these diseases.”

Connecticut mandates that all newborns, infants and school-age children be vaccinated against hepatitis B. All pregnant women should be tested for hepatitis B during their prenatal care so that measures can be taken to prevent transmission to newborns.

Hepatitis A is most often spread through ingesting contaminated food or water or by certain sexual practices and has been associated with large outbreaks of disease.

Claims Settled In La Mesa's Chipotle Grill Hepatitis A 2008 Outbreak

 

In late April 2008, San Diego County health officials announced that a number of Hepatitis A (HAV)infections had been traced to a Chipotle Grill restaurant in La Mesa, California, near San Diego. Officials advised customers who had eaten at the restaurant between March 1 and April 22 that they might be at risk for infection. As of early May, more than twenty people who ate at the La Mesa restaurant have tested positive for HAV infection. Several of those victims contacted Marler Clark for assistance with their cases. All claims have been settled.
Hepatitis A is a food borne virus that can be passed by infected food handlers to consumers. The virus attacks the liver, and symptoms can include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, dark urine, fever, chills, fatigue, body aches, loss of appetite, and later on, jaundice. In extreme cases, liver failure can result. The virus has a long incubation period, and symptoms may not appear for fifteen to fifty days.

 

Produce Worker At Littleton, CO Albertson's Tests Positive For Hepatitis A

 Did you ever notice the people in the produce department at the grocery store are always the friendliest?  That's probably no comfort to customers at the Albertson's in Littleton, CO who are being told that if they consumed store produced produce they should think about getting Hepatitis A vaccine shots.

The local health department will be offer vaccinations at Columbine United Church at 6375 South Platte Canyon Road Monday from 4 to 9 p.m. and Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The church is at South Platte Canyon Road and West Coal Mine Avenue, about one-half mile south of the Albertsons.

Health officials are warning those who have bought green onions, celery that has had the leaves trimmed, any lettuce that was not pre-bagged, any pre-cut watermelon, cantaloupe or honeydew melon.  They said the overall risk was low as the employee who tested positive for Hepatitis A did practice both thorough hand-washing and wore gloves.  

However, about 3,000 food items were subject to exposure.  For more, check out the story in Denver's last remaining daily newspaper here.

Richard Miller - One Man's Hepatitis A Story

 In late October 2003, Beaver County ER doctors reported an alarming number of Hepatitis A cases.

Investigators from the Pennsylvania Department of Health initiated an investigation immediately and discovered that many, if not all, cases had eaten at Chi Chi’s restaurant in Monaca, Pennsylvania’s Beaver Valley Mall.

Along with the health department, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted further studies of the outbreak. Preliminary analysis of a case-control study suggested that green onions were the probable source of the outbreak.

The onions had been shipped to the restaurant in boxes and were stored and refrigerated in buckets of ice. They were eventually chopped up and served in various dishes at the restaurant, often uncooked, as in the preparation of mild salsa.

“Preliminary trace-back information indicated that the green onions supplied to Chi Chi’s had been grown in Mexico.” Ultimately, over 650 people were sickened in the outbreak. The victims included at least thirteen Chi Chi’s employees and numerous residents of six other states. Four people died from their injuries, and more than 9,000 people obtained immune globulin shots as protection against the virus.

This is the story of one of those cases (click below to see short quicktime video):

Hard To Treat Diseases (HTDS) Offers Hepatitis A Vaccine in India

This release from a single company speaks volumes about the size of the Hepatitis A vaccine market in India, which has developed in only the last few years.  It says:

 Hard To Treat Diseases (HTDS)  says its China based operating subsidiary Mellow Hope has surpassed sales of 200,000 units of Hepatitis A Vaccine in India.

The Hepatitis A Vaccine (BIOVAC-A) was first launched in the market of India in December, 2005.

Terry Yuan, CEO added "Because our product is single-dose vaccine, so (sic) our price is almost the half of other multinational competitors' price. Our sales volume keeps growing continuously. To well promote our AV and convince the local people that our product is equal or better to our multinational competitors, we had conducted a Multi-centric clinical trial in 2007. The results proved that our product offers great safety and efficacy. Subsequently, this trial report was published in the International Journal. As a company, we hold two seminars' every year, one in India and one in China".

The company will provide further details as they become available. 

VA Says Its Equipment Was Contaminated; Vets Testing Positive For Viral Infections, Including Hepatitis

 
Boy, talk about another reason to get your Hepatitis A vaccine! The Veterans Administration (VA) has acknowledged that 16 patients exposed to contaminated equipment at its medical facilities have tested positive for viral infections, including hepatitis.

According to CBS News:

VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said Friday that 10 colonoscopy patients from the VA medical center in Murfreesboro, Tenn., tested positive for hepatitis. She said six patients from a VA clinic in Augusta, Ga., tested positive for unspecified viral infections.

The number of reported infections could rise. Roberts says the department doesn't yet have results from most of more than 10,000 veterans warned to get blood tests because they could have been exposed to contamination. Patients at a medical center in Miami also were urged to get tested.

All three sites failed to properly sterilize equipment between treatments.

 

The VA Medical Center in Murfreesboro is named for World War I hero Alvin C. York, who was a native of Pall Mall, Tenn.  For more about this distributing report, check here.

 

Bodies & Body Parts From War in Mexico Foul Imperial Beach Waters, But Surf Is Up!

The war in Mexico between drug dealers and the government last year saw more than 5,300 killed, including 843 just across border in the 120-year old city of Tijuana. Its neighbor to the north is Imperial Beach, CA.

North and south of the Imperial Beach Pier is the Tijuana Estuary at the famed Boca Rio beachbreak. The Tijuana Sloughs is a fabled big-wave surf spot is now almost unrideable due to raw toxic sewage that flows into the break from the Tijuana River.

Now the war in Mexico is literally lapping up against Imperial Beach because so many dead bodies and dismembered bodies are being flushed into the area from the river that the danger to surfers has never been so high.

Because warning signs and health risk notices are not keeping surfers away, a nonprofit environmental group based in Imperial Group called WildCoast, is offering free Hepatitis A vaccines for surfers. In partnership with San Diego State University's Graduate School of Public Health, WildCoast is offering the vaccines at the Imperial Beach Health Center.

For more from KPBS, go here.