Hepatitis A is one of five human hepatitis viruses that primarily infect the human liver and cause human illness. (There are many other viruses that can inflame the liver which infect us more generally.) The other known human hepatitis viruses are hepatitis B, C, D, and E. Hepatitis A is relatively unusual in nations with…

By Judith Blake
Seattle Times staff reporter
March 23, 2005
The calls run the food-safety gamut:
ï A Seattle-area woman said she’d found walnuts in a packaged, pre-cut salad mix, though nuts were not listed in the ingredients. Her young son, who was severely allergic to walnuts, did not eat any of the nuts, but the woman worried that someone else might have an allergic reaction to the mislabeled product.
ï A man discovered mold on the meat-filled breakfast burrito he’d purchased at a convenience store.
ï A woman was dismayed to find larvae in an energy snack bar.
These are among the calls consumers have made to the new toll-free Food Safety Consumer Complaint Hotline (1-800-843-7890) launched in January by the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
Goal: to reduce the risk of food-borne illness by making it easier for consumers to lodge complaints and for officials to address them.Continue Reading New hotline handles food-safety complaints

3/14/2005
By: Sean Carroll
Pine City
Donald and Jane Rockwell are coming to grips with the death of their oldest son. Their son Donald fought a losing battle with Hepatitis A. “He could not speak, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t ring a bell, they really watched to make sure that he had pain medication whenever they thought he was in pain,” Jane Rockwell described her son’s time in the hospital.
At one point it looked as if Donald might pull through, before things got worse. Donald’s father remembers his son’s best days at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. “He was able to lift a hand off the bed and wave to his daughter, he was able to purse his lips and throw a kiss, he was able to smile.”
Rockwell and his family learned he’d contracted Hepatitis A about four months ago. “It was actually November 3rd, mom’s birthday,” Rockwell’s brother Tom recalled. “His son called and I think he said, ëgrandma come see what’s wrong with my dad.’”
In October a worker at Maple Lawn Dairy in the Town of Ashland was diagnosed with the disease. “There was at least a 3 week time lapse between the time that the worker at the restaurant was diagnosed and the time that the public was notified.”Continue Reading Hepatitis A Claims A Life

Friday, Mar 11, 2005
By Brad W. Gary
Herald staff writer
No new instances of disease in Royal City case
GRANT COUNTY — The Grant County Health District confirmed a new case of Hepatitis A in the Quincy area Wednesday, in a separate situation from the Royal City case discovered in a food preparer there last month.
The hepatitis case was one of many items discussed during the monthly meeting of the Grant County Board of Health Wednesday night.
The Quincy case was confirmed in a preschool-aged child, and Grant County Health Officer Dr. Alexander Brzezny said no other information was available yet on the case.Continue Reading Hepatitis confirmed in Quincy

BY JIM SHAMP, The Herald-Sun
March 10, 2005
CHAPEL HILL — A research study published Thursday by infection control specialists at UNC Hospitals indicates that rubbing your hands together for at least 10 seconds under plain ol’ warm tap water cleans them just as effectively, in occasional washing, as the expensive specialty soaps and cleansers sold to hospitals and medical clinics.
The UNC researchers tested 14 hand hygiene agents plus tap water against specific bacteria and viruses applied to the hands of 62 adult volunteers.
The water worked wonders.
“Based on these findings, I’d put my hands in my mouth after routine sink washing for 10 seconds,” said Emily Sickbert-Bennett, a public health epidemiologist with the UNC Health Care System and the UNC School of Public Health. She’s lead author of the study, conducted as part of her UNC public health master’s degree work from 2000 to 2002 and published in the March issue of the American Journal of Infection Control.Continue Reading Study: Warm water as good as soap scrub

The Arizona Republic
Mar. 11, 2005 12:00 AM
Health officials are asking customers of Pepi’s Pizza in south Phoenix to watch for hepatitis A symptoms after a food handler at the restaurant was infected with the viral illness last month.
Customers may have been exposed to the virus if they ate appetizers, salads or desserts at the restaurant, 727 S. Central Ave., from Jan. 21 to Feb. 13.
Currently there is no health threat at Pepi’s and the restaurant is being monitored, Emily Poland of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health said.Continue Reading Pepi’s diners at risk of hepatitis A