July 2005

Sixteen East Tennesseans have contracted Hepatitis A since the end of June. That’s in addition to 23 people who had it in April.
The Campbell County Health Department is now vaccinating children to try to slow the growth of the community-wide outbreak of Hepatitis A.
Thursday, workers visited Campbell County’s six largest day care centers to give the first round of the vaccine.They administered shots to 181 children and 51 adult daycare employees.
Young children can pick up the virus and not display any symptoms, but still pass it to others. That’s why the day care centers were the first target.
“It was really scary to me because my two children had it in high school, of course that was years ago, but I knew how sick they got,” Kandyland Day Care employee Edna Bolton explained Thursday. “I was real happy when they said they’d like to give shots, because I don’t want to pick it up.”Continue Reading Health Department gives children Hepatitis A vaccine

Campbell County day care centers on alert for Hepatitis A
Thursday, officials will go to six licensed day cares with vaccines for workers and children age two and over.
They’re targeting children because they can have the virus without knowing it and still infect others.
Since the Regional Health Department declared a community-wide Hepatitis-A outbreak in Campbell County, day care owners say they’ve been even more vigilant about things like hand-washing.
“It makes me more aware,” Little Lamb Christian Day Care Center owner Mary Shiveley explains. “The kids are like, ‘Do we have to wash our hands again?’”Continue Reading Campbell County day care centers on alert for Hepatitis A

Knoxville (WVLT) – The Regional Health Department says they have “a major public health problem” on their hands.
Since Monday, six additional cases of Hepatitis-A have shown up in Campbell County.
Despite what the Health Department calls ëintense efforts to control or stop the spread of the virus,’ it’s now become a widespread community issue, meaning it’s being spread person to person not from any single source.Continue Reading Hepatitis-A now a “major public health problem”

July 26, 2005
KNews
Kristi L. Nelson
With 16 cases confirmed in the past month, health officials were cited as announcing Tuesday that a “community-wide outbreak” of hepatitis A in Campbell County is requiring “intense efforts” to stop the spread.
Dr. Paul Erwin, director of the East Tennessee Regional Health Office, was cited as saying the confirmation of “several” cases in children is particularly concerning, and that officials haven’t identified a source for the outbreak.Continue Reading Officials battle spread of hepatitis A

By KRISTI L. NELSON, nelsonk@knews.com
July 26, 2005
With 16 cases confirmed in the past month, health officials announced Tuesday that a “community-wide outbreak” of hepatitis A in Campbell County is requiring “intense efforts” to stop the spread.
The confirmation of “several” cases in children is particularly concerning, said Dr. Paul Erwin, director of the East Tennessee Regional Health Office. Children often don’t show symptoms when infected with hepatitis A but can still spread the virus to others. Officials haven’t identified a source for the outbreak.
On Thursday the Campbell County Health Department and ETHRO will give hepatitis A vaccinations to all workers and children 2 and older in Campbell County’s six day-care centers. So far, only one of the confirmed cases is in a day-care worker, Erwin said, “but daycares can be a place where hepatitis A can come in and go out (into the community) very quickly.”Continue Reading Officials battle spread of hepatitis A

Campbell County
July 26, 2005
Lafollette, Campbell County (WVLT) – A tenth case of Hepatitis-A is confirmed in Campbell County.
Health officials confirmed another case last week in a daycare worker in Jacksboro.
At this point, health officials do not believe the new case is related to the daycare.
Health officials say the person is

July 22, 2005
By CATHARYN CAMPBELL
6 News Reporter
JACKSBORO (WATE) — A new confirmed case of Hepatitis A turned up in East Tennessee at a daycare center in Jacksboro.
The Campbell County Health Department gave more than 60 shots to kids and workers Friday at the Eagle Bluff Child Care Center.
A representative from the facility said one of her employees tested positive for the virus Thursday. The worker had been sick for about two weeks.
It’s not clear right now how the worker was infected but its possible the worker spread the virus for two weeks.Continue Reading Daycare worker tests positive for Hepatitis A

PETALING JAYA, July 24 (Bernama) — It is estimated that 50 per cent of Malaysians under 30 years of age do not have antibodies against Hepatitis A and were therefore susceptible to the disease, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.
“Paradoxically, as we become more affluent and less of the population get infected at an early age, we are actually more susceptible to Hepatitis A infection as adults, as most of us do not have the antibodies to fight Hepatitis A,” he said at a charity dinner organised by the Malaysian Liver Foundation here Saturday.Continue Reading Fifty Per Cent Of Malaysians Under 30 Susceptible To Hepatitis A

Daycare worker tests positive for Hepatitis A
Campbell Co. residents infected with Hepatitis A looking for answers
Investigation continues into latest Hepatitis A outbreak
New Hepatitis A outbreak reported in Campbell, Scott counties
July 22, 2005
By CATHARYN CAMPBELL
6 News Reporter
LaFOLLETTE (WATE) — A call-in program on LaFollette radio station Q105 was the meeting place Friday for some of the people in Campbell County infected with Hepatitis A. They wanted to put their heads together to see if they can figure out why the virus has been a problem in their community.Continue Reading Campbell Co. residents infected with Hepatitis A looking for answers

When diners become ill and blame something they ate, state experts start sleuthing. They interview the victims, conduct food lineups and try to narrow down the suspects.
By Scott Joseph
Sentinel Restaurant Critic
July 20, 2005
Sometimes people think it’s just a touch of the flu, a 24-hour bug. Upset stomach, cramps and diarrhea might be some of the discomforts they experience. But on occasion, these are actually indicators of a food-borne illness, and, for epidemiologists such as Dean Bodager, they aren’t symptoms, they’re clues.
Whenever there is an outbreak of food-borne illnesses, it falls to Bodager and other members of the Florida Department of Health to track down the source. Sometimes it’s simple. Most outbreaks occur at the point of preparation — a restaurant employee who didn’t wash his or her hands properly, food that wasn’t kept at the correct temperature to prevent bacteria growth, or some sort of cross-contamination.Continue Reading Food detectives