Hepatitis A Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Hepatitis A Blog

University officials call case an isolated incident
BY MICHELE BESSO / The News Journal
09/30/2005

An 18-year-old University of Delaware freshman is being treated for hepatitis A, a liver disease caused by a virus that can be spread through direct contact, university officials said Thursday.

It appears to be an isolated incident related to a recent monthlong trip to Mexico taken by the student, university officials said in a posting on the school's Web site.

There have been no additional cases of hepatitis A reported on campus, said Marjorie Postell of the state Division of Public Health.

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Canadian Press
September 30, 2005

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A man who needed a liver transplant after he got hepatitis A from a Chi-Chi's restaurant has settled a lawsuit against the bankrupt chain for $6.25 million US.

Richard Miller, 58, was among 660 people sickened by scallions served at a Chi-Chi's near Pittsburgh in the fall of 2003. Four people died in the outbreak.

A federal judge Thursday approved the settlement, which includes a $4.1-million trust to pay for Miller's care. Miller is married, with three children.

"The Millers are happy to have the litigation behind them," said lawyer William Marler. "No amount of money ever makes losing your liver worth it, certainly."

The chain of Mexican restaurants said it has paid more than $40 million to settle hundreds of lawsuits over the outbreak. The company sold all its restaurants to Outback Steakhouse Inc. last year.

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Lindsay Devick -
Wednesday, September 28, 2005

The Knox County Health Department recently provided support to East Tennessee Regional Health Office to help offer treatment after an outbreak of Hepatitis A threatened Campbell County.

The ETRO stepped in to offer antibodies called immune serum globulin to restaurant patrons who were potentially exposed to Hepatitis A after an employee was suspected of handling uncooked foods without washing her hands.

"The IsG shot provides a dose of antibodies that boosts your immune system to fight off the virus," Sandy Halford, assistant director for ETRO, said. "The shot is especially important for people with weakened immune systems."

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September 30, 2005
Hector Duarte Jr. - All Headline News Staff Reporter

Pittsburgh, PA (AHN) - A lawsuit filed by a man who needed a liver transplant after he got hepatitis A from a Chi-Chi's restaurant reaches a settlement for $6.25 million.

A federal judge approves a $4.1 million trust to pay for the ongoing care of Richard Miller, 58. The rest of the money will go to Miller's wife, Linda, and their three children, to his attorneys, or to pay for medical expenses Miller already incurred.

The settlement was reached six weeks ago, but became public at a court hearing at which U.S. District Judge Terry McVerry approved the trust, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports Friday.

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30.09.2005

MOSCOW, September 30 (Itar-Tass) - Fifty-six people have been hospitalised with the diagnosis of hepatitis A in the Nizhny Novgorod region over the past 24 hours, the press service of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry told Itar-Tass on Friday.

At the same time, 97 people have been discharged from hospitals after treatment.

A total of 993 people diagnosed with hepatitis A are staying in the hospitals in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

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By Karen Roebuck
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, September 30, 2005

A Beaver County man who needed a liver transplant after being infected in the 2003 hepatitis A outbreak is receiving a $6.25 million settlement from Chi-Chi's Mexican Restaurant.

U.S. District Judge Terrence McVerry on Thursday approved a Special Needs Trust for the ongoing care of Richard Miller, of Beaver, who will turn 59 next week.

About $4.1 million will be put into the trust, which will be administered by US Bank. Miller's wife, Linda, and their three children each will receive $100,000.

The rest of the settlement, which was agreed to confidentially about six weeks ago but made public as part of the trust agreement, will be used to repay uncovered medical expenses and attorney and other fees, said Miller's Seattle attorney, William Marler, who specializes in foodborne-illness cases.

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By Associated Press
September 30, 2005

PITTSBURGH -- A lawsuit filed by a man who needed a liver transplant after he got hepatitis A from a Chi-Chi's restaurant has been settled for $6.25 million.

A federal judge approved a $4.1 million trust to pay for the ongoing care of Richard Miller, 58. The rest of the money will go to Miller's wife, Linda, and their three children, to his attorneys, or to pay for medical expenses Miller already incurred.

The settlement was reached six weeks ago, but became public at a court hearing on Thursday at which U.S. District Judge Terry McVerry approved the trust, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Friday.

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Sept. 29, 2005--An 18-year-old University of Delaware freshman is being treated for hepatitis A, and students who live on the same floor in his residence hall or who have had close contact with him are being offered a free preventive injection of immune globulin, according to Marjorie Postell of the state Division of Public Health.

This appears to be an isolated case related to the student's recent monthlong trip to Mexico, Postell said, and there have been no other known cases of hepatitis A virus reported on campus.

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Sep 29, 2005
The Associated Press

Three people have contracted hepatitis A in Hamilton County, and health officials believe the cases are linked to an outbreak caused by contaminated oysters.

The oysters that arrived at the Boathouse Rotisserie and Raw Bar were part of a 10,000-pound recall of oysters shipped to restaurants in the Southeast. But owner Lawton Haygood did not find out about the recall until the oysters were already served.

"The damage was done by the time we knew about it," Haygood said.

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By Jennifer Bails
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, September 29, 2005

Health officials responded faster to the hepatitis A outbreak in Beaver County two years ago because genetic tests used during the outbreak produced results within a few days, according to a new state and federal report.

A technique called viral sequencing enabled the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to launch an immediate investigation to see if green onions imported from Mexico caused the outbreak that sickened 660 people and killed four, according to an analysis to be published in the Oct. 15 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, but now available online.

Without this molecular evidence, the FDA couldn't have begun tracing the source until medical detectives finished interviewing hepatitis A patients about their symptoms and what foods they ate and where, said Dr. Anthony Fiore, a medical epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

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2005-09-29

MOSCOW, Sept. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- More than 1,000 people infected with Hepatitis A have been hospitalized in the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia after an epidemic situation there deteriorated, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported on Thursday.

"The epidemiological situation connected with viral hepatitis has exacerbated from September 5 in the cities of Nizhny Novgorod,Dzerzhinsk and Balakhna," the report quoted a spokesman of the Emergency Situations Ministry as saying on Thursday.

At present, 1,034 people diagnosed with Hepatitis A have been hospitalized, 956 of them in the third-largest city of Nizhny Novgorod, 32 in Dzerchionsk and 46 in Balakhna. A total of 211 children were also admitted to hospital.

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ALBANY, N.Y. The state Health Department says people who attended a gaming expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center on September 13th and 14th may have been exposed to Hepatitis A through an infected worker.

The person suspected of spreading the illness was handing out free samples of ice cream at a Schwan's food service booth at the convention center.

As a precaution, the Health Department is advising anyone who went to the conference and had ice cream at the booth on either day to immediately get an immune globulin immunization.

Immune globulin can provide some protection against hepatitis a infection if it is given within 14 days after a person has been exposed.

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The Philippine Society for Microbiology, Inc. believes that germ cross- contamination in your kitchen can be the culprit of the spread of disease-causing bacteria. Germ cross-contamination occurs when bacteria are passed on from the original source to another person or object.

A study conducted by an American microbiologist from the University of Arizona in the US showed that there are more disease-causing bacteria in kitchens than in any other place at home such as the bathroom. The study reveals that food can carry organisms like E. coli, Salmonella spp., and Hepatitis A, which can cause illness.

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September 28, 2005

CONCORD, N.H. --A federal judge has thrown out a Derry family's lawsuit claiming they got sick after eating at a Taco Bell where a worker was diagnosed with Hepatitis A.

Judge Joseph DiClerico said Friday that the family's claim lacked evidence that the food they ate was infected, or that their suffering merited compensation.

DiClerico also pointed out no doctor ever told Wendy and John Evans, or their three children, that the symptoms they experienced were related to the food they ate at Taco Bell. He said they never sought medical care, even though they complained of suffering from nausea, stomach pains, diarrhea and other symptoms.

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By Beth Aaron/Senior Staff Writer
September 28, 2005

A food handler who worked at Angelita's Kitchen, 5401 South Ave. Q, may have infected customers who dined at the restaurant between Sept. 9 and Sept. 11 with hepatitis A, according to a City of Lubbock Health Department alert.

"Although the risk of infection is considered to be low, it's still a concern," said Tigi Ward, public health coordinator for the City of Lubbock Health Department.

Environmental Health has worked with the restaurant, and the establishment still is open for business, Ward said.

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By Susan L. Burke, MS, RD/LD, CDE
eDiets Chief Nutritionist

Mad cow disease has thousands turning up their noses at burgers. Meat sales are down, and moms don't know whether they can take their kids to the fast-food playground. Consumers are all atwitter, frightened that they'll fall victim to the disease that causes cows to fall down and become paralyzed. But, health experts want you to know that there is a much larger threat to public health than eating beef.

In fact, only one person has come down with the human form of mad cow disease in the U.S., and it's not linked to the one cow that they've isolated with the disease in this country. Although there's a problem with beef, it's not from mad cow. And, there's a problem with food in general.

Food Borne Illness is a Big, Deadly Problem.

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27 September 2005

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- As reported by the Reno Gazette-Journal: "Health officials are offering preventative shots to the estimated 650 people from Northern Nevada who attended a conference in Las Vegas where they might have been exposed to hepatitis-A.

"A worker at the Schwan's Food Co. booth who served free ice cream to attendees of the Global Gaming Expo the week of Sept. 12 learned he had hepatitis-A after the event, officials said.

"Although there is no treatment for hepatitis A, symptoms can be prevented if a person exposed to the virus receives gamma globulin within 14 days.

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September 27, 2005
Lubbock, Texas

The City of Lubbock Health Department has issued a Hepatitis-A alert for anyone who ate at a Lubbock restaurant.

Health officials say a food handler at Angelita`s Kitchen Restaurant, 5401 Avenue Q, may have infected customers from September 9-11.

Hepatitis-A is a viral infection of the liver. There is no cure, but an injection can effectively treat it.

If you were at Angelita`s Kitchen during that time, you are strongly encouraged to see a doctor right away to be checked for the virus.

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Paula Francis, Anchor
Sep 26, 2005

As many as 1,000 convention-goers may have been exposed to Hepatitis-A two weeks ago. A shot clinic has been set up to help prevent further spread of the virus.

Kathy Haynes recently attended the Global Gaming Expo and had sampled ice cream from a Schwan's food service booth. The food handler later tested positive for Hepatitis-A.

As a preventative measure, Kathy went to the Clark County Health District for 2 shots that would keep her from getting ill -- if she had been exposed. The experience has her wondering if prevention begins with gloved hands. "I think Nevada needs to go ahead and pass a law that anybody passing out any type of food needs to be wearing gloves. Definitely."

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September 26, 2005
Hundreds who attended convention still sought
By Mary Manning
LAS VEGAS SUN

Clark County health officials over the weekend gave shots to 166 people to protect them against hepatitis A, but they are still hoping to reach the rest of the approximately 1,000 people they believe were exposed to the potentially deadly virus at a Las Vegas convention earlier this month.

And they are racing against time.

Gamma globulin shots and hepatitis A vaccinations won't prevent the spread of the virus after Wednesday, health officials said.

Colorado health officials informed the Clark County Health District on Thursday that a man who attended the Global Gaming Expo conference with its 26,000 delegates was diagnosed with hepatitis A after returning home. He had served ice cream at the Schwan's Food Service booth, said Jennifer Sizemore, spokeswoman for the Clark County Health District.

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Sep 24, 2005, 09:34 PM
The Associated Press

Nearly 100 people attended a special clinic in Las Vegas Saturday for those who may have been exposed recently to hepatitis A.

Clark County officials warned attendees of the Global Gaming Expo this week that they may have been exposed to the virus, which causes inflammation of the liver. About 25,000 people from all 50 states and 20 countries attended the convention September 13th through 15th at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Health officials say only those who were served ice cream at a Schwan's Food Service booth at the Expo are at risk for exposure. The 98 people attending today's clinic received vaccinations and immune globulin. The immune globulin can be given up to 14 days after the exposure.

Another clinic will be held Sunday at the Ravenholt Public Health Center in Las Vegas.

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September 23, 2005

Public Health Agency of Canada Infectious Diseases News Brief
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/bid-bmi/dsd-dsm/nb-ab/2005/nb3805_e.html

The Alabama Department of Public Health is investigating an outbreak of hepatitis A. Since the beginning of September, 13 cases have been reported from scattered areas of the state. However, it appears that most of these patients may have contracted the disease after eating raw oysters. Of the 11 patients who have been interviewed, 10 have eaten raw oysters in the period 2-6 weeks before getting sick. At least 5 eating establishments may have been the source of contaminated oysters. Traceback activities will attempt to determine where the oysters were harvested. The investigation is still in progress.
News Release, Alabama Department of Public Health, 13 September 2005

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Gaming conference worker infected with hepatitis A

By PAUL HARASIM
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Dr. Lawrence Sands, director of community health for the Clark County Health District, said an infected individual from Colorado served ice cream at the Expo.

Dan Maxson, an environmental health supervisor, said Clark County officials didn't learn until late this week from Colorado officials that the Schwan food handler had tested positive for the virus.Photo by Ralph Fountain.

The success of a worldwide public health manhunt begun Friday -- one spawned by a carrier of the hepatitis A virus at the recent Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas -- could literally mean the difference between life or death for some of the 26,000 conventiongoers.

If local, state, and health officials can determine before Wednesday who among the 26,000 might have been exposed to the virus by a food handler during the Sept. 13-15 event, those attendees can receive shots of gamma globulin.

The shot can prevent the onset of hepatitis A symptoms that can result in death or dangerous liver transplants.

Continue reading this story at the Review-Journal Web site.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LAS VEGAS - Sept. 23, 2005 - Persons who attended the Global Gaming Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center (September 13-15, 2005) on September 13-14 may have been exposed to hepatitis A through an infected individual who worked at the conference.

The individual was working at a Schwan's Food Service booth and was handing out samples of ice cream. The individual serving the product is considered the source of possible exposure and not the ice cream product. Thus, the Clark County Health District has the unique opportunity to notify attendees who may have come into contact with this individual to offer preventive treatment. It is also important to note the infected individual did not show symptoms of the illness until after the conference nor did he know he was infected. The individual was exposed to hepatitis A at an event unrelated to the Gaming Expo, but would have been infectious at the time he was there.

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23/ 09/ 2005

VOLGOGRAD, September 23 (RIA Novosti) - The outbreak of Hepatitis A that hit Nizhny Novgorod, a large city on the Volga east of Moscow, early September is under control, the Health and Social Development Minister told journalists Friday. Mikhail Zurabov said the system of communal services should be improved and that water supply had been disrupted in Nizhny Novgorod in late August, which could have caused the problem.

A total of 990 people, including 198 children, have contracted the disease in the city.

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23.09.2005

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, September 23 (Itar-Tass) - 20,900 residents of Nizhny Novgorod have been inoculated against type A hepatitis, Nizhny Novgorod Vice-Mayor Sergei Gladyshev told Itar-Tass on Friday.

Children in orphanages and boarding schools were the first to receive the inoculation, he said.

The city has received 20,000 vaccine doses from the federal authorities, so it can inoculated all residents and even supply some of the vaccine to Dzerzhinsk and Balakhna, which have also reported an increase of the type 1 hepatitis rate.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 22, 2005
CONTACT: Center for Science in the Public Interest
202.332.9110

New Federal Law Gives Parents Access to Cafeteria Inspection Reports

WASHINGTON - September 22 - Is your child's school cafeteria free of rodents, under-cooked or improperly stored food, and other hazards that can cause serious"and possibly fatal"food poisoning? A new federal law makes it easier for parents to answer that question by requiring more frequent inspections and easy access to school cafeteria inspection reports.

Today the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), the nonprofit nutrition and food safety watchdog group, released its School Food Safety Bill of Rights, which tells parents how to take advantage of the new law and become involved in promoting food safety at the school level. The new law was folded into the Childhood Nutrition Reauthorization bill last year by food safety advocates in Congress, led by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). It went into effect in July.

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21.09.2005

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, September 21 (Itar-Tass) - The number of hepatitis A patients has grown to 867 people, including 166 children, in the city of Nizhny Novgorod on the Volga River since an outbreak of the epidemic early in September, sources from the regional healthcare department told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.

According to the sources, 75 people, including 17 children, have been hospitalised over the past 24 hours. They say patients come from all districts of the city. Up to 25 people from the Sormovsky district, the main centre of the infection, are hospitalised daily.

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Sep 21 2005

YEKATERINBURG. Sept 21 (Interfax) - A breakdown in the sewage system and infected water were the cause of a recent outbreak of Hepatitis A in Nizhny Novgorod, the Volga-Urals emergency situations center reported.

The sewage system broke down during the maintenance of the Novo- Sormovskiye water purification facilities. The water is being chlorinated and massive vaccination has been launched. THis work is being monitored by an emergency center.

As many as 792 hepatitis patients remain in local hospitals, including 149 children under 14. Since the first Hepatitis A case was reported, 816 people have been hospitalized, among them 156 children.

From 130 to 150 new hepatitis cases are expected to be diagnosed before the end of the week.

A criminal investigation into the outbreak of Hepatitis A has been started on charges of violating sanitary-epidemiological regulations.

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21 Sep 2005

Novel use of genetic testing methods helped public health officials control and limit the further spread of four outbreaks of foodborne hepatitis A virus in 2003 related to the consumption of green onions, according to a detailed analysis published in the October 15 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online.

The authors of the study, Joseph J. Amon, PhD, MSPH, and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), explained that these molecular epidemiologic methods had not previously been used in an ongoing investigation of a hepatitis A virus outbreak. The methods, involving genetic sequencing analysis of virus found in blood samples from infected individuals, have greatly improved understanding of outbreaks of other foodborne pathogens, but are time-consuming and not widely available.

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ATLANTA | September 21, 2005

Scientists in Atlanta say they employed a novel use of genetic testing methods to control the spread of food-borne hepatitis A in 2003.

Joseph Amon and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the molecular epidemiologic methods had not previously been used in an ongoing investigation of a hepatitis A virus outbreak.

The CDC investigators used genetic sequencing analysis to identify the source of the virus found in blood samples from 422 cases of hepatitis A in Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia during September 2003.

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Sep. 20, 2005

Nizhni Novgorod prosecutors brought in September 19, 2005 an action concerning the outbreak of hepatitis A in Nizhni Novgorod. As of Monday, as much as 751 residents of the region have been taken to hospital, the number of diseased grows by 100 people each day. The extent of the epidemic points to "complete breakdown of the housing and communal services in the region."
Now the prosecutors are studying several possible causes that could have triggered the epidemic. The core story is breakdown of sewerage at the water supply system of Nizhni Novgorod.

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Tanya Mendis
September 19,2005

Health inspectors still have not explained why they won't give the location of a confirmed case of Hepatitis A at a restaurant in Walker County, Georgia.
McDonald's corporate office confirmed the location and says the threat has been removed, the question remains however, why would the PUBLIC health department refuse to share important information with the public?
Health department representative Logan Boss says the reason the department is still mum is because they did what they were supposed to do: protect the public from health risks.

But some people question why the health deparment won't talk.

"I would think we have to ask the individual at the health department the reason for not disclosing it," says Greg Edwards, who had not heard about the hepatitis case. "There must be some reason for that."

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19.09.2005

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, September 19 (Itar-Tass) - The latest reports from Nizhny Novgorod say that 710 people, including 137 children, have been hospitalised with the diagnosis of hepatitis A in Russia's third-largest city after Moscow and St. Petersburg.

All infection hospitals are full, and 200 additional beds have been prepared in clinics of other specialties, health department director Vladimir Lazarev said at a weekly meeting in the mayor's office on Monday.

He said the flow of patients had somewhat decreased -- 36 people contacted city hospitals with complaints suspicious of hepatitis A, a viral liver disease.

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2005-09-18
Six hundred and seventy-four people have been hospitalized in Nizhny Novgorod with a preliminary diagnosis of A type hepatitis. Hospitals admitted 43 patients, including 12 children, over the past day, director of the city health department Vladimir Lazarev told on Sunday.

He said city hospitals still have 200 beds for adults and 40 for children. There is enough vaccine and medicines. Every schoolchild and teacher can receive a hepatitis inoculation for free.

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Tanya Mendis
September 17,2005

Representatives from McDonald's Corporate Office in Atlanta responded to the confirmed case Hepatitis-A in Walker County.
When NewsChannel 9 first reported the story, neither the store manager nor the health department would confirm they found the virus at the Highway 27 location in Chickamauga.
But, after we placed phone calls to the McDonald's district manager and the corporate office, McDonald's Opeerations Manager Nadine Cox issued this statement:

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16 September, 2005

THE Alabama Department of Public Health is investigating an outbreak of hepatitis A. Since the beginning of September, 13 cases have been reported from scattered areas of the state. The investigation is still in progress.

However, it appears that most of these patients may have contracted the disease after eating raw oysters. Of the 11 patients who have been interviewed, 10 have eaten raw oysters in the period two to six weeks before getting sick. Most had eaten the raw oysters about a month before becoming ill. "Even if these cases of hepatitis A were infected by eating raw oysters, this outbreak was not caused by Hurricane Katrina," said Dr. Donald Williamson, state health officer. "All of the persons had eaten the raw oysters before Katrina hit the coast." In fact, most of the individuals ate the raw oysters about two weeks before Katrina.

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Tanya Mendis
September 15,2005

Health officials say they found a confirmed case of Hepatitis-A in a food services employee in Walker County last week.

And while they say they are confident this is an isolated incident, the public still needs to be alert.

"People always need to be concerned about Hep-A," says Logan Boss of the Northwest Georgia public health department. "For that reason, we tell people to practice basic hygene procedures."

Health officials say Hepatitis-A is usually spread through improper hygene and sanitary practices. They say people who work in food services are more likely to contract the disease and that's what happened in this case.

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September 15, 2005

It's not the shot that stings, it the shot of reality that Campbell County has a serious Hepatitis-A problem.

"It's just been a bad ongoing deal," says Campbell County citizen Red White.

The Tennessee Regional Health Office bluntly calls it a community-wide outbreak. Hep-A keeps being passed from person to person. That's why hundreds are lining up for free injections of immune serum globulin, the recipe for preventing Hep-A in those exposed.

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nbc13.com
September 14, 2005

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The state Health Department is investigating an outbreak of Hepatitis A. Health officials said they have found 13 cases across the state since the beginning of September.

They believe most of the cases resulted from eating raw oysters that were contaminated.

State Health Officer Don Williamson said the infections happened before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and are unrelated to any contamination caused by the hurricane.

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September 16, 2005

The Moscow Times
More than 100 new cases of hepatitis A were recorded in Nizhny Novgorod on Thursday, bringing the total number of people hospitalized to 466, including 70 children, local health officials said.

"We expect the number of infections to grow by about 100 people per day," said Irina Kiryanova, the deputy director of the region's health department, Interfax reported.

Meanwhile, epidemiologists were trying to determine the cause of the outbreak. The region's chief doctor, Yevgeny Petrov, said that the infection could have been transmitted through water and sewage systems, as well as through infected food.

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Health Department: "We're giving them everything we know"
Septemeber 15, 2005

Jacksboro, Campbell County (WVLT) - A new case of Hepatitis-A in Campbell County is cause for concern.

The reason, a restaurant worker is the latest person to contract the virus.

Volunteer TV's Stacy McCloud spoke with health department officials Thursday morning to get answers to questions you and others want to know.

The phones have been ringing non-stop at the phone bank set up here at the Regional Health Department.

Folks that have eaten at Charley's Pizza on Cumberland Lane in Jacksboro are calling with the typical questions, such as the dates of possible exposure and when they can get the shot.

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Public release date: 15-Sep-2005
Contact: Carrie Patterson
cpatterson@asmusa.org
202-942-9389
American Society for Microbiology

Two testing methods combined may be able to rapidly identify hepatitis A contamination in strawberries and green onions say researchers from Canada. Their findings appear in the September 2005 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Hepatitis A virus (HAV), which is endemic worldwide, is often transmitted to humans through contaminated food. Shellfish, fruits, and vegetables are commonly infected through contaminated water, surfaces, and food handlers and recent outbreaks have been specifically associated with strawberries and green onions. Detecting HAV in food has previously proven difficult due to the presence of inhibitory substances and low concentration of virus recovered.

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September 15, 2005

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. Heath officials in East Tennessee say they don't yet know the source of an outbreak of hepatitis-A that's plagued Campbell, Scott and Cocke (KAHK') counties this summer.

But with the discovery of a pizza restaurant worker found to be infected, authorities are urging some people who ate there to get shots.

Sandy Halford of the East Tennessee Regional Health Office says people who ate uncooked food at Charlie's Pizza in Jacksboro on specific dates should receive an injection of immune serum globulin, which would protect them from the illness. The dates are September first, second, seventh, eighth or ninth.

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September 14, 2005

The pizza place where the woman worked is still open, after the Health Department cleared them of being the source of the Hepatitis A.

A restaurant worker is Campbell County contracted Hepatitis A, prompting a special clinic to limit the spread of the contagious and potentially deadly liver disease.

The Hepatitis A clinic starts at 1:00 Thursday afternoon at the LaFollette Church of God, ending at 8:00 in the evening.

The church will also hold a clinic Friday, starting at 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.

The Campbell County Health Department is urging anyone who ate at Charley's Pizza in Jacksboro on September 1,2,7,8 and 9 come in for a free shot.

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September 14, 2005

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. A restaurant worker in Campbell County has been diagnosed with hepatitis A, and health officials today urged people who ate at the restaurant to be vaccinated.

The East Tennessee Regional Health Office has been investigating an outbreak of the viral liver disease in the county and found a person working at Charley's Pizza in Jacksboro was diagnosed.

Officials said people who ate at the restaurant on September first, second, seventh, eighth or ninth should get an injection of immune serum globulin tomorrow or Friday at a clinic set up at the LaFollette Church of God.

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Thursday, September 15, 2005
By Oksana Yablokova
Staff Writer

A total of 316 people were hospitalized Tuesday with hepatitis A in Nizhny Novgorod, the country's third-largest city, and local health officials were preparing to treat hundreds more as they struggled to pinpoint the cause of the outbreak.

Newly appointed Nizhny Novgorod Governor Valery Shantsev said the situation was under his personal control.

"The hospitals are being reorganized [to admit new patients]," Shantsev said on NTV television. "The disease is viral. So far, it is unclear what caused it, but the main prevention measure is not to allow contact" with those who are ill.

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Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Staff Report

The Alabama Department of Public Health is investigating an outbreak of hepatitis A, according to a news release from the Montgomery office. Since the beginning of September, 13 cases have been reported throughout the state.

The investigation has revealed that most of these patients may have contracted the disease after eating raw oysters.

Of the 11 patients who have been interviewed, 10 had eaten raw oysters in the period of two to six weeks before getting sick. Most had eaten the raw oysters about a month before becoming ill.

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September 13, 2005
Staff reports
The Selma Times-Journal

The Alabama Department of Public Health is investigating an outbreak of hepatitis A. Since the beginning of Sept. 13 cases have been reported from scattered areas of the state.

The investigation is still in progress. However, it appears that most of these patients may have contracted the disease after eating raw oysters. Of the 11 patients who have been interviewed, 10 have eaten raw oysters in the period two to six weeks before getting sick. Most had eaten the raw oysters about a month before becoming ill.

"Even if these cases of hepatitis A were infected by eating raw oysters, this outbreak was not caused by Hurricane Katrina," said Dr. Donald Williamson, state health officer. "All of the persons had eaten the raw oysters before Katrina hit the coast."

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By Gary Rethford January 2000
A growing problem of potentially devastating proportions

JoAnn Burkholder went to the lab as she had so many mornings before. Little did she know this time it would be very different. Burkholder, a research scientist at North Carolina State University, had recently discovered the algae-like parasite responsible for killing millions of fish in North Carolina's estuaries. As she worked over the tank of dying fish, the fumes began to cause her thinking and motor skills to diminish.

Unaware of her sluggishness, she worked four more hours until, barely able to walk, her colleagues almost had to carry her from the lab. The scientist had inadvertently exposed herself to Pfiesteria, the name she had given to the parasite that caused her illness. She suffered stomach cramps, labored breathing and acute short-term memory loss for eight days before recovering somewhat. Since then she has been hospitalized with pneumonia eight times, and cannot exercise without triggering some sort of respiratory illness. Two other researchers working on the case suffered similar symptoms.

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Original Article:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?id=DS00397&dsection=1
Overview

Hepatitis A is a highly contagious liver infection caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV). Although not usually as serious as other types of viral hepatitis, hepatitis A causes inflammation that affects your liver's ability to function.

You're most likely to contract hepatitis A from contaminated food or water or from close contact with someone who's already infected -- even if that person doesn't appear sick. Some people who are infected never develop signs and symptoms, but others may feel as if they have a severe flu.

Mild cases of hepatitis A don't require treatment, and most people who are infected recover completely with no permanent liver damage. Unlike hepatitis B and C, hepatitis A doesn't develop into chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis -- both potentially fatal conditions.

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The Monitor
http://www.themonitor.com/
September 12, 2005
Rose Ybarra
The Monitor

Clean hands often translates to staying healthy.

On any given school day, children are exposed to millions of germs. Classroom door knobs alone have the hand residues of about 20 students and two or more teachers and these germs can live for a long time.

"Viruses can live six hours on an inanimate object, such as a door knob," said Martin Garza, M.D., who practices at DLC Pediatrics in Edinburg. "Those viruses are transferred when a student turns a door knob and then later touches the face."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that nearly 22 million school days are lost every year due to the common cold and one of the most ways to catch colds is by rubbing their noses and eyes after touching something or someone that is contaminated.

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Sep 1, 2005

SAN ANDREAS -- The Calaveras County Public Health Department is urging anyone who may have eaten at a popular tourist destination in Murphys to get immunized for hepatitis A after it was learned that an employee there was infected with the virus.

Anyone who bought drinks or food from the deli at Ironstone Vineyards from Aug. 18-21, Aug. 24 and from Aug. 26-28 may have been exposed to hepatitis A, according to a statement issued by the county Health Department on Wednesday.

The deli worker at Ironstone also supervised children at the Sonora Parent Nursery Preschool twice during a three-week period when the virus could have been spread to others, the health department said.

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Wednesday, September 07, 2005 - 04:05 PM

Sabrina Sabbagh
News Anchor
Murphys, CA -- The Health Department is continuing its investigation of persons who may have been exposed to hepatitis A due to an infected food handler who worked at the deli at Ironstone Vineyards in August.

Calaveras County Public Health Director Colleen Tracy says it is not too late for people who drank or ate food from the deli at Iron Stone Vineyards on August 26th, 27th or 28th to get immunized.

Tracy says if it has been more than 2 weeks since someone has eaten at the deli the immune globulin will not protect them from the disease. She advises those people to watch for signs of the disease and symptoms include fever, jaundice, abdominal pain, excessive tiredness or loss of appetite.

Tracy would also like to stress the fact that it is unlikely that people were exposed to enough bacteria to contract the disease.

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Published: September 1, 2005
By ALISHA WYMAN

A Tuolumne County woman has come down with hepatitis A, which has health officials working to immunize anyone possibly exposed to the disease.

Hepatitis A is a viral infection that can be spread through an infected person's bodily fluids or through contaminated food. It results in liver inflammation, but is only deadly in one of 400 cases.

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Thursday, September 01, 2005
Eric Nelson
News Director

San Andreas, CA -- Health officials in Tuolumne and Calaveras Counties are warning residents of a possible Hepatitis A threat.

Officials say they were informed this week that a Tuolumne County resident contracted the viral contagious infection which results in liver inflammation.

The infected individual reportedly supervised children at the Sonora Parent Nursery Preschool twice during a potentially infectious three week period. The person also worked as a food handler at Ironstone Vineyards in Murphys.

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By Neil Osterweil, Senior Associate Editor, MedPage Today
Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
August 31, 2005

Review

ATLANTA, Aug. 31-An outbreak of hepatitis A that killed three patrons of a Pennsylvania restaurant and sent at least 124 others to the hospital was caused by contaminated green onions (scallions) from Mexico.

Even though the restaurant appeared to follow hygienic practices and none of the employees was found to be the source of the outbreak, about 527 people who ate or worked at the restaurant in November of 2003 contracted hepatitis A.

Many of those infected had eaten a mild salsa containing the contaminated vegetable, reported CDC researchers in the Sept. 1 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

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Karina Ioffee
Record Staff Writer
Published Thursday, Sep 1, 2005

SAN ANDREAS -- The Calaveras County Public Health Department is urging anyone who may have eaten at a popular tourist destination in Murphys to get immunized for hepatitis A after it was learned that an employee there was infected with the virus.

Anyone who bought drinks or food from the deli at Ironstone Vineyards from Aug. 18-21, Aug. 24 and from Aug. 26-28 may have been exposed to hepatitis A, according to a statement issued by the county Health Department on Wednesday.

The deli worker at Ironstone also supervised children at the Sonora Parent Nursery Preschool twice during a three-week period when the virus could have been spread to others, the health department said.

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Thursday, September 01, 2005

By Byron Spice, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

An editorial to be published tomorrow in the New England Journal of Medicine calls for vaccinating all children against hepatitis A, citing the outbreak that sickened 600 patrons of a Beaver County Chi-Chi's restaurant two years ago as evidence of the need.

Incidence of the liver disease has reached historic lows within the United States and vaccination now is recommended only for people considered at high risk.

But Drs. Jules Dienstag and Loriana Di Giammarino of the Harvard Medical School argue in their editorial that the low incidence of hepatitis A paradoxically leaves most Americans vulnerable to sporadic foodborne outbreaks, such as the Chi-Chi's incident.

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