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

October 28, 2005
Newsinferno News Staff

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has voted unanimously to recommend that a two-dose vaccination be given young children. The committee's recommendations are routinely considered by health officials when setting federal vaccination guidelines and are considered persuasive by doctors.

The specific recommendation is that all children between 1 and 2 years of age be vaccinated against the hepatitis A virus, which attacks the liver and can cause fever, diarrhea, and jaundice.

The disease is sometimes caused by eating food contaminated with feces. In one major outbreak in 2003, contaminated green onions at a Chi-Chi's restaurant in the Beaver Valley Mall in Pennsylvania (U.S.), sickened 660 people and killed four. One victim needed a liver transplant and 58 others also contracted hepatitis A. So far, Chi-Chi's has settled hundreds of cases arising out of this incident for more than $40 million.

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Saturday, October 29, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The mother of a Beaver County boy who contracted hepatitis A from a friend who ate at a Chi-Chi's restaurant in the Beaver Valley Mall two years ago, has filed a lawsuit against the restaurant claiming negligence.

In it, Jana Brooks, claims her son, Jesse Dilts, of Hookstown, became ill after sharing lunch with a friend on Nov. 28, 2003. That friend, whom Jesse didn't know was ill, had previously eaten at Chi-Chi's. That fall, the restaurant was the site of the largest hepatitis A outbreak ever in the United States. A total of 660 people were sickened with hepatitis A, and four people who ate at Chi-Chi's died from the disease.

Jesse tested positive for hepatitis A on Dec. 19, 2003. Because of his illness, Ms. Brooks claims her son's grades dropped, he had to repeat a semester of class work and he missed winter sports.

The outbreak was linked to green onions, which were found to be contaminated before they arrived at the restaurant.

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By DIANE CHUN
Sun medical writer
October 28. 2005

According to Alachua County's health director Tom Belcuore, the three students are from Orlando, but given the time frame in which they became ill, they probably contracted hepatitis on the UF campus.

"They all have spent time at UF, and over the past 10 days, we have been looking into additional connections," Belcuore said Thursday.

Hepatitis A is most commonly spread by close personal contact, including sex or sharing a household item. The incubation period after exposure ranges from 15 to 50 days.

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10/26/2005

ATLANTA - All children between 1 and 2 should be vaccinated against the hepatitis A virus, a national vaccine panel recommended yesterday.

About 25 percent of hepatitis A cases occur in children, but many adults get the disease from infected youngsters, health officials said. The virus, which attacks the liver and can cause fever, diarrhea and jaundice, is sometimes caused by eating food contaminated with feces.

Hepatitis A is rarely fatal. But in 2003, nearly 600 people were sickened by hepatitis and three died in the nation's largest outbreak.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which helps set federal vaccination guidelines, voted unanimously to recommend that a two-dose vaccination be given to young children.

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Janet Fletcher
10/26/05

If you believe you have been sickened by a restaurant meal, health authorities advise alerting the establishment and calling the health department of the county where the restaurant is located; see accompaying phone numbers.

Most common illnesses: Salmonella, staphylococcus, campylobacter, E. coli 0157:H7

General symptoms: Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea; sometimes headache, muscle cramps and abdominal cramps. Staph symptoms come on rapidly, but generally the time elapsed between ingestion and illness is 24 to 72 hours.

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San Fransisco Chronicle
By Jane Fletcher
10/26/05

You slurped the oysters, devoured the pork chop and ate every crumb of the apple pie -- yet another fine dinner at a favorite restaurant. But at 3 a.m., you awake in a sweat, your insides churning and one thought on your mind: "That [expletive] restaurant made me sick."

Not so fast. You're sick all right. But was it the oysters? Or that succulent pork chop? Can you even be sure the culprit was part of your meal?

"It's like someone telling you they got a cold from riding the 22 Fillmore," says Carlo Middione, chef-owner of Vivande in San Francisco. Most diners in gastric distress instinctively blame the last place they ate, but it's not necessarily that simple.

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By Paula J. McGarvey for The Montana Standard - 10/18/2005

It might lack the Hollywood stars, high tech equipment and nail biting suspense of the popular television series CSI, but the Butte Silver Bow Health Department does its share of solving mysteries with the goal of stopping the spread of disease in Southwest Montana.

"Our purpose at the health department is to prevent the spread of disease from one person to the next by rapidly identifying those diseases and preventing the spread of infection to other people," said Terri Hocking, a registered nurse and director of public health nursing services at the Butte Silver Bow Health Department.

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October 21, 2005

The New Milford Health Department has issued a reminder to local residents about the importance of keeping your hands clean.

The reminder comes on the heels of Clean Hands Week, which was Sept. 18-24.

Officials said that handwashing is the single most important thing one can do to prevent illness and the spread of illness.

The Center of Disease Control estimates that 5,000 people die each year from food-borne illness. It says 78 million become ill and between 79,000 and 96,000
die from hospital infections each year.

One of the direct links to many of those deaths is poor handwashing, according to the release from the local Health Department.

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By The Associated Press
October 12, 2005

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.- All school-aged children in Campbell County public schools will receive the hepatitis-A vaccine after several residents contracted the virus over the spring and summer, health officials said.

An additional 2,000 adult doses of the vaccine will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Campbell County Health Department. Although the doses were donated by Merck Pharmaceutical, there is an administration fee based on income.

People at a Jacksboro pizza restaurant were urged by the health department in September to get an injection of immune serum globulin after an employee was infected.

More doses will be available for residents for $20 after the free doses run out.

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10/17/2005

Wallis Lake, north of Port Stephens, where a major oyster contamination incident occurred in 1997, is to benefit from $1.8 million in federal funds to tackle water pollution.

More than 400 people became ill after eating contaminated oysters from the waterway and the incident sparked a hepatitis A outbreak.

The Member for Paterson, Bob Baldwin, says the funding will help prevent pollution from entering both the Wallis and Myall lakes.

"All of these waterways are subject to pollutants, are subject to blue green algal outbreaks, by making sure that water is monitored, that water management plans are put into place, that there is significant education in the way that people use fertilises and that around the area, it means that we can reduce the likelihood of these outbreaks occurring," he said.

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If you ate at Angelita's Kitchen September 9th through the 11th, you may have been exposed to Hepatitis A.

The restaurant is located at 5401 South Avenue Q. An employee was not showing symptoms but was potentially infectious while handling food. Hepatitis A is a viral infection of the liver, spread by unwashed hands after bathroom use. Further contamination can occur when food is handled. The health department is looking for customers that may have dined at Angelita's Kitchen during the following times: September 9th, between 9 a.m. and 3 pm, September 10th between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. or in the evening from 8:30 p.m. until 4 a.m. in the morning. The final exposure may have occurred September 11th, between 7 a.m. and 1:30 p.m..

The risk is believed to be low, but you should be aware of symptoms that could occur. They usually begin fifteen to fifty days following exposure. Symptoms include fever, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle aches and fatigue. An injection of immune Globulin given within fourteen days of exposure may lessen the severity or prevent the disease from developing.

Call the health department at 806-775-2935 or after hours at 806-766-5747 .

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October 14, 2005

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 14, 2005--William Marler, a nationally-known attorney who has represented the most seriously injured victims of E. coli in the United States, today called on Dole's corporate leaders "to do the right thing and immediately pay the medical bills and wage loss of those sickened with E. coli in the Dole lettuce outbreak. In many past outbreaks, corporations have stepped up and taken care of the customers they poisoned," said Marler.

To date, twenty-three people in Minnesota have been sickened with E. coli, eight have been hospitalized, and one child developed HUS -- all from eating bagged, "pre-washed" lettuce. According to the FDA, more that 245,000 bags of lettuce may be affected nationwide. An alert and recall has been launched.

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Associated Press

Officials at the D.C. Department of Health are warning residents about Gulf Coast oysters contaminated with hepatitis A.

Officials said 29 people in Alabama, Florida and Tennessee have contracted the illness within a month of eating raw oysters from the same Louisiana shellfish dealer.

Investigators think the shellfish growing area was contaminated by discharge from a boat. The Alabama shellfish dealer that sold the infected oysters has issued a recall.

However, the contaminated oysters aren't a danger anymore because their consumption date is long past, according to health officials. They said more shellfish from the infected bed will not reach the market either, because Hurricane Katrina has closed all of Louisiana's shellfish growing areas.

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Associated Press

Officials at the D.C. Department of Health are warning residents about Gulf Coast oysters contaminated with hepatitis A.

Officials said 29 people in Alabama, Florida and Tennessee have contracted the illness within a month of eating raw oysters from the same Louisiana shellfish dealer.

Investigators think the shellfish growing area was contaminated by discharge from a boat. The Alabama shellfish dealer that sold the infected oysters has issued a recall.

However, the contaminated oysters aren't a danger anymore because their consumption date is long past, according to health officials. They said more shellfish from the infected bed will not reach the market either, because Hurricane Katrina has closed all of Louisiana's shellfish growing areas.

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By KRISTI L. NELSON
nelsonk@knews.com
October 14, 2005

In an effort to curb the spread of hepatitis A that has plagued Campbell County this year, health officials will offer hepatitis A vaccine to all public school students and more than 2,000 adults.

Health department and school system staff will begin vaccinating children 18 years old and younger for hepatitis A on Monday at public schools in Campbell County. They expect to reach all schools in the next two weeks.

In order for children to be vaccinated, students must have consent forms signed by a parent or guardian, said Sandy Halford, assistant regional director for East Tennessee Regional Health Office. Vaccinations, funded by the federal Vaccines for Children Program, will be free to all 6,294 public school students.

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October 13, 2005

KNOXVILLE (AP) -- Campbell County health officials are offering hepatitis-A vaccinations after the disease infected several residents over the spring and summer.

Hepatitis-A symptoms include mild fever, loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhea, tiredness, dark urine and jaundice. The viral disease is often is spread by poor hygiene.

Several people were urged to receive serum globulin injections last month after a restaurant worker in Jacksboro was found to be infected. Officials said the outbreak didn't begin at the restaurant, though.

Health officials say the vaccination is a different shot and even people who received the globulin should take it.

The vaccine is being offered first to the county school system's 6,000 students at no charge. They'll be vaccinated at school, beginning Monday, by Health Department and school nurses. There will be vaccination clinics at all 14 county schools.

Another 2,000 donated doses of the vaccine will be administered sometime in November to Campbell County adults.

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People who ate frozen, sliced strawberries at Wilbur, Florence Moore or Lagunita Dining Halls between April 21 and April 28 may have been exposed to hepatitis A.

According to Shirley Everett of University Dining Services, contaminated frozen strawberries may have been served as a topping for waffles, yogurt and ice cream at the three dining halls during that eight-day period last month.

Only frozen, sliced strawberries that were thawed and used for topping are suspect, Everett said. The recall did not include fresh strawberries or whole frozen berries used to make fruit smoothies.

"We are not aware of any ill persons on campus as a result of this potential exposure," said Ira M. Friedman, M.D., director of Cowell Student Health Service.

All suspect strawberries were removed from use by Dining Services on April 28 and returned to the food distributor as part of a voluntary nationwide recall prompted by a cluster of hepatitis A cases in Massachusetts last February.

"We are not aware of any other outbreaks of hepatitis A attributed to those strawberries," said Friedman.

Hepatitis A is a viral disease of the liver that can be serious but, unlike hepatitis B or C, rarely causes complications or death. The virus passes from an infected person in the stool and is most commonly spread through food or contaminated eating utensils.

According to Friedman, people who ate frozen, sliced strawberries as a topping in one of the three dining halls between April 21 and April 28 should wash their hands carefully after using the toilet and before handling food. They should not share eating utensils or water bottles from now until the incubation period has elapsed -- approximately 50 days after exposure.

During the incubation period, individuals should be on the lookout for symptoms such as fatigue, loss of appetite, vomiting, stomachache and jaundice, and should immediately contact a medical practitioner or call Cowell at 4-CARE (724-2273) if symptoms appear.

Students who are at risk have been informed, and those who feel they fit the criteria should call Cowell to discuss the advisability of obtaining an immunoglobulin injection, Friedman said.

Everett said that the current situation appears to be resolved and University Dining Services has resumed its usual menu. "We will continue our practice of working with food distributors and health authorities to ensure a safe food supply and to take any suspect items out of circulation immediately," Everett said. SR

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By News Sentinel staff
October 12, 2005

All school-aged children in Campbell County public schools will receive the hepatitis-A vaccine after several residents contracted the virus over the spring and summer, health officials said.

An additional 2,000 adult doses of the vaccine will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Campbell County Health Department. Although the doses were donated by Merck Pharmaceutical, there is an administration fee based on income.

People at a Jacksboro pizza restaurant were urged by the health department in September to get an injection of immune serum globulin after an employee was infected.

More doses will be available for residents for $20 after the free doses run out.

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Associated Press
Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Officials at the D.C. Department of Health are warning residents about Gulf Coast oysters contaminated with hepatitis A.

Officials said 29 people in Alabama, Florida and Tennessee have contracted the illness within a month of eating raw oysters from the same Louisiana shellfish dealer.

Investigators think the shellfish growing area was contaminated by discharge from a boat. The Alabama shellfish dealer that sold the infected oysters has issued a recall.

However, the contaminated oysters aren't a danger anymore because their consumption date is long past, according to health officials. They said more shellfish from the infected bed will not reach the market either, because Hurricane Katrina has closed all of Louisiana's shellfish growing areas.

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10/12/2005

WASHINGTON Raw oyster fans beware: Washington D-C's health department is warning residents about Gulf Coast oysters contaminated with Hepatitis-A.

Officials say twenty-nine people in Alabama, Florida and Tennessee have contracted the illness within a month of eating raw oysters from the same Louisiana shellfish dealer.

Investigators think the shellfish growing area was contaminated by discharge from a boat. The Alabama shellfish dealer that sold the infected oysters has issued a recall.

But city health officials say the contaminated oysters aren't a danger anymore because their consumption date is long past.

They say more shellfish from the infected bed won't reach the market either, since Hurricane Katrina has closed all of Louisiana's shellfish growing areas.

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11.10.2005

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, October 11 (Itar-Tass) - Medics from the Volga River city of Nizhny Novgorod say an outbreak of hepatitis A is subsiding. "There are no grounds to speak about a second wave of hepatitis A," Dmitry Poguzov, spokesman for the headquarters set up to monitor the situation, said on Tuesday.

Medics say 55 people have been hospitalized over the past 24 hours, including 16 children. Twenty-two hepatitis patients have been released from hospital over the same period.

Officials from the territorial department of Rospotrebnadzor, the consumer health watchdog, have confirmed that the outbreak of hepatitis A is subsiding in the city.

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16:27 | 10/ 10/ 2005

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, October 10 (RIA Novosti, the Volga area, Olga Skomorokhova) - Sixty-three people, including 11 children, were hospitalized last weekend in central Russia with suspected Hepatitis A.

A spokesman for the Nizhny Novgorod governor said 92 people were discharged at the same time.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said a total of 542 people diagnosed with hepatitis were still in local hospitals.

Another 31 people are in hospital in Balakhna, a town neighboring Nizhny Novgorod where the hepatitis outbreak was first registered.

Twenty-five people are in in-patient clinics in Dzerzhinsk, outside Nizhny Novgorod.

About 1,700 cases of Hepatitis A have been registered in Nizhny Novgorod since the outbreak in early September. More than 65,000 people have been vaccinated and more than 9,000 city residents have been treated with immunoglobulin, the governor's spokesman said.

Health and Social Development Minister Mikhail Zurabov had previously said that poor communal services and a disruption to the water supply in late August could have caused the outbreak.

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07/ 10/ 2005

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, October 7 (RIA Novosti, Andrei Rukavishnikov) - Within the last 24 hours, 40 people have been hospitalized in Nizhny Novgorod, a large city on the Volga east of Moscow, with suspected hepatitis A, a spokesman for the regional governor's office said Friday.

In the same period, 55 in-patients have been discharged. Since the outbreak of the virus in the city in early September, 65,600 people have been vaccinated and more than 9,000 city residents have been treated with immunoglobulin, the spokesman said.

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By James Kirley
staff writer
October 6, 2005

VERO BEACH -- A local restaurant is one of four eateries in Florida that was shipped contaminated oysters from
Louisiana in July that public health officials now say caused at least 16 cases of hepatitis A reported by doctors throughout September.

Investigators traced the viral liver disease to oysters eaten raw at Mr. Manatee's Casual Grill in Vero Beach and other restaurants in Key West, Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers Beach, according to Doc Kokol, communications director at the Florida Department of Health. He stressed that the source of infection was the oysters, not sanitation problems in the restaurants.

The batch of contaminated oysters is gone from the market, said Cheryl Dunn, Indian River County environmental health manager.

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Sun-Sentinel
October 6, 2005

WEST PALM BEACH -- Two West Gate Elementary School students were diagnosed with hepatitis A, a Palm Beach County Health Department official said Wednesday.

It is not part of an outbreak at the school, at 1545 Loxahatchee Drive, west of West Palm Beach, because it was detected in two students from the same family, health department spokesman Tim O'Connor said.

Hepatitis A spreads through contact with infected bowel movements or food.

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NIZHNY NOVGOROD, October 5 (RIA Novosti, Olga Skomorokhova) - In the past 24 hours, 38 new cases of Hepatitis A have been registered in Nizhny Novgorod in central Russia, a local official said Wednesday.

According to the official, 1,517 people, including 222 children, have been hospitalized since the recent outbreak. About 50% of them have been discharged from hospitals for dispensary observation, but 687 people remain hospitalized.

The official said 66,474 people have been inoculated against the virus of the city's 1.5 million people.

The epidemic is believed to have been caused by a sewage system breakdown.

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The Daily News, Bowling Green, Ky
By Hayli Morrison
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Oct. 1--Jurors criticized Red Lobster and its defense team after awarding $225,000 and medical cost reimbursement to a Glasgow man who sued the restaurant, claiming he contracted the hepatitis A virus from a server there.

"We just thought Red Lobster should be held accountable for their employee and their practices," juror Jamie Barnett said.

"They make rules and they don't follow them," juror Glenn Schilke added.

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4 October 2005 -- Two United Nations agencies have convened the first meeting of some 200 experts from 50 African countries to agree on methods of strengthening existing systems to ensure safer food imports, which account for up to 60 per cent of the foodstuff available in parts of the continent.

Foodborne diseases are a particularly serious threat to Africans already weakened from malaria and HIV/AIDS, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), said at the start of the four-day conference in Harare, Zimbabwe yesterday.

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04.10.2005

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, October 4 (Itar-Tass) - Sixty people, including 12 children, have been hospitalised with suspect symptoms of viral hepatitis A in Nizhny Novgorod over the past 24 hours.

Seventy-six people earlier diagnosed with hepatitis have been discharged from hospitals after treatment, a member of the operational centre monitoring the hepatitis outbreak told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

Epidemiologists describe the situation with hepatitis A in Nizhny Novgorod as stable.

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October 1, 2005
Source: Newsinferno.com News Staff

Chi-Chi's fast-food chain, which was driven into bankruptcy partly as a result of an outbreak of illnesses caused by contaminated green onions at its restaurant in the Beaver Valley Mall in Pennsylvania (U.S.), has settled yet another lawsuit arising out of that incident in October 2003.

The latest settlement of $6.25 million was made with a man who needed a liver transplant as a result of contracting hepatitis A from the contaminated onions on October 12, 2003. It was approved by U.S. District Judge Terry McVerry in Pittsburgh.

The incident in which 660 people were sickened resulted in four deaths and several serious illnesses. Mr. Richard Miller, 58, contracted hepatitis A and underwent a liver transplant on November 8, 2003.

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Gene Birk

Tim Emberton sued Red Lobster and its employee, Carissa Phelps. He claimed he caught Hepatitis-A from Phelps when she served him on July 28, 2001.

A Warren Circuit Court jury found Red Lobster liable, and awarded Emberton $8,666.05 in medical expenses, and $225,000 for pain and suffering. But the jury said Carissa Phelps was not liable.

Judge Steve Wilson dismissed the Barren River District Health Department from the suit. He said there was insufficient evidence of wrongdoing on their part.

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By: Staff and Wire Reports
10/01/2005

PITTSBURGH - A lawsuit filed by a Beaver man who needed a liver transplant in 2003 after he fell ill in the hepatitis A outbreak at a former Beaver Valley Mall 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.

Miller received a liver transplant on Nov. 8, 2003, after he and his wife fell ill from eating at the now-closed Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant in the Center Township mall. Linda Miller recovered from her illness

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.

Miller was one of 660 people sickened by green onions he ate at the restaurant; five deaths have been attributed to the outbreak.

"The Millers are happy to put this chapter of their lives behind them," said attorney William Marler of Seattle. "Although no amount of money will ever compensate Mr. Miller for the loss of his liver, the money in trust will be there to help the Millers move on with their lives."

"Richard cannot hope for noticeable improvement in his health," the trust agreement says, adding that Miller may suffer future problems and may even need another transplant.

Chi-Chi's attorneys have said the bankrupt chain has paid more than $40 million to settle hundreds of lawsuits stemming from the outbreak. Only a handful of suits remain unsettled; they are pending in Beaver County Court.

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