Wash Your Hands: Hepatitis-A Outbreak Downtown
Feb. 1, 2006
Los Angeles may be suffering an outbreak of Hepatitis A - a fourfold increase in two years, reports CBS2/KCAL9's David Goldstein.
Hot spots include downtown restaurants like Cafe Pinot on Fifth Street and La Golondrina on Olvera Street, says the CBS report, in a rare display of capital-J-journalism that seems to have beaten the mainstream newspapers.
Me, I'm staying away from the salad bars and getting more fanatical about washing my hands. I like my liver just as it is ...
Hepatitis A is a virus that could be spread through fecal matter. More than 300 cases were reported between August and December of last year. That's four times more than in 2004!
And so far in January of this year there have been 84 cases reported.
"Is this an epidemic with hepatitis A? That's hard to say."
Dr. Elizabeth Bancroft of the L.A. County Health Department is still unsure of what to make of it.
Documents show some cases could be linked to Downtown L.A. restaurants.
In November -- five employees at Cafe Pinot on Fifth Street came down with hepatitis A. Another outbreak was among customers at La Golondrina restaurant on Olvera Street. No cause was found.
A third outbreak was at Huntington Gardens in November. A catering service provided food on a movie shoot where Bravo and 17 others came down with hepatitis A after eating salad.
It's not a disease to betrifled with. You might want to consider checking to see if you've been vaccinated.
