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

The hepatitis viruses are diseases of the liver.

Hepatitis A: found in the feces of people with the virus. Symptoms include jaundice, fatigue and abdominal pain. No long-term infection caused by the virus. It's usually spread by hand-to-mouth contact.

How it's spread: Through household contact, sex with infected people and traveling to countries where the virus is common. Hepatitis A was in the news in 2003 when an outbreak was traced to a western Pennsylvania Chi-Chi's restaurant.

Prevention: The best protection is the hepatitis A vaccine. Wash your hands after using the bathroom, changing a diaper and before preparing and eating food.

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BY ELLEN MITCHELL
Special to Newsday
May 30, 2006

Recently, three girls in a fifth-grade class in a New Jersey school were diagnosed with hepatitis A. The news comes at a time when pediatricians around the country are recommending that babies as young as 12 months old be vaccinated to protect against the virus that causes hepatitis A.

The disease triggers liver inflammation. Though it's generally much less serious than both hepatitis B and C, each year about 30,000 Americans, including children, contract hepatitis A, and 50 die of the disease, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Symptoms of hepatitis A can include fever, jaundice, nausea and vomiting. They are usually less severe in young children than in adults, but a vomiting baby is more likely to become dehydrated than an adult.

Hepatitis A is highly contagious. Some people do not realize when they have a mild case of the disease, which they can spread. The virus can be transmitted in food or water. It is present in the stool of those infected and can spread easily if they fail to wash their hands thoroughly. Typically, one hears of outbreaks in restaurants stemming from an infected food handler. A tot in a day-care center could easily infect other children.

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by JULIE E. GREENE julieg@herald-mail.com

Before you go: Consult a travel medicine clinic or your doctor as soon as possible before the trip. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests going four to six weeks before the trip.

If vaccinations are needed, this will allow time for the body to build up immunity or allow time if a series of shots are required, says Dr. Ted Sofish with Occupational Health Associates in Chambersburg, Pa.

This visit to the doctor also will help you determine what medical items you'll need to take. It helps to know your itinerary so you can tell the doctor how long you will be away, what type of accommodations you will have (hotel or camping), and what types of areas you will visit (urban or rural). Visits to remote rural areas can have greater health risks.

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By: Cindy Andrews
10:24 AM Monday, May 22nd, 2006

Is it really important?

Some amazing facts: Only 40 % of the adult population worldwide routinely washes their hands after using the toilet. Women tend to comply more frequently than men. The reasoning for this is time, resources (such as no soap or water available), and just plain laziness.

More facts: One out of four adults does not wash their hands after changing a diaper. Fewer than half of the people wash after touching their pets or cleaning up after them. After sneezing or coughing only one in three people wash their hands.

Many germs are transmitted by food handlers who do not wash their hands after using the toilet. This can occur in the home or on the job such as at a restaurant. This unsanitary practice can cause severe illnesses including diarrhea and hepatitis.

The leading cause of infection and illness is poor hand washing. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) has determined that the most important thing you can do to prevent illness is to wash your hands.

A study conducted by the University of Geneva, over a four year period, indicated infection rates decreased by 50% in individuals who adhered to a strict hand washing routine.

When soap and water are unavailable, alcohol based hand rubs can be successfully substituted. The use of these only takes 15-20 seconds as compared to hand washing that takes 1-1.5 minutes.

Next time you greet one another in a Church setting, rather than saying Good Morning or Peace be with you, you might be silently saying "Thanks a lot for your flu or cold". To keep from catching that flu or cold you may want to just practice what this writer does and privately use your alcohol based rub after the greeting.

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Officials weigh mutual aid pact

By Katheleen Conti
Globe Staff | May 18, 2006

Four area communities are considering joining 23 other Boston suburbs in a public-health mutual aid effort that was conceived two years ago after a hepatitis A outbreak in an Arlington restaurant.

Overwhelmed when about 3,000 residents waited for inoculation after the outbreak, Arlington's health director reached out to her counterparts in neighboring communities for assistance. The incident spawned the formation of a voluntary alliance among area public health department officials, who are now seeking a formal relationship similar to the mutual aid initiatives used by public safety officials.

On May 8, the Revere City Council unanimously accepted the mutual aid agreement, officially consenting to share public health resources on an as-needed basis with the other communities in its designated region.

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Officials are trying to identify the source

Friday, May 19, 2006
BY ROBERT E. MISSECK
Star-Ledger Staff

A sixth Cranford student has been diagnosed with hepatitis A, and health officials have yet to determine the source of the infection.

The latest case involves a fifth- grade girl at Orange Avenue Elementary School, school officials said.

Three other girls and a boy, all 11 years old and in the same grade at the school, were previously in fected. A second 11-year-old boy, who is home-schooled, was also diagnosed with the virus.

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Six Children Have Been Infected

Christine Sloan
WCBS TV

(CBS) CRANFORD Brian Woo is a sixth-grader at the Orange Avenue School in Cranford, where health officials today confirmed a new case of Hepatitis A.

That brings the number of kids infected with the virus to six. So this 12-year-old isn't taking any chances. "I'm really worried about getting it," Woo said. "I wash my hands everyday, I put on Purell, all that stuff."

"It is scary, I didn't know there was a new case," said Ursula Ansari, a parent who has a student in the school.

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Officials weigh mutual aid pact
By Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff | May 18, 2006

Four area communities are considering joining 23 other Boston suburbs in a public-health mutual aid effort that was conceived two years ago after a hepatitis A outbreak in an Arlington restaurant.

Overwhelmed when about 3,000 residents waited for inoculation after the outbreak, Arlington's health director reached out to her counterparts in neighboring communities for assistance. The incident spawned the formation of a voluntary alliance among area public health department officials, who are now seeking a formal relationship similar to the mutual aid initiatives used by public safety officials.

On May 8, the Revere City Council unanimously accepted the mutual aid agreement, officially consenting to share public health resources on an as-needed basis with the other communities in its designated region.

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Officials seek source of contamination
Thursday, May 11, 2006
BY ROBERT E. MISSECK
Star-Ledger Staff

At least three students at an elementary school in Cranford have recently been infected with the hepatitis A virus, and health officials said yesterday they have not yet determined the source of the contamination.

All of the students are 11-year-old female fifth-graders at the Orange Avenue School who be came ill last week, according to School Superintendent Lawrence Feinsod.

"We also have possibly one other unconfirmed case, a boy, at the same school," he said.

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WINS
May 11, 2006

CRANFORD, N.J. -- The Star Ledger reports that three students at a Cranford elementary school have been infected with the hepatitis A virus.

School Superintendent Lawrence Feinsod said all students are 11 years old and are fifth graders at the Orange Avenue School. The students all became ill last week.

Local health authorities are investigating the incident.

Feinsod said they have ruled out contamination through the handling of food in the school's cafeteria because all of the victims are from the same grade. If it was in the cafeteria the contamination would have been more widespread.

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The JHU Gazette
May 1, 2006
John Hopkins University

Hepatitis A vaccination is safe in HIV-infected children but may be less effective in creating immunity than it is in healthy children. Therefore, health care providers of HIV-infected children should confirm their immunity after vaccination, according to the findings of a new study from Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

HIV-positive children are at a greater risk of bacterial and viral infections, including hepatitis A, than healthy children. Hepatitis A can damage the liver, an organ that might be already compromised in children with HIV because of antiviral medications and HIV-related opportunistic infections.

"We know it's important to prevent hepatitis A infection in children with HIV," said the study's senior author, George Siberry, assistant professor of pediatrics. "However, we've had very little information about how their HIV infection might prevent them from responding to the hepatitis A vaccine. This study helps answer that question."

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Passport Health offers vaccinations tailored to people's destinations.
By Robert Annis
Robert.Annis@TheNoblesvilleLedger.com
May 2, 2006

INDIANAPOLIS -- Whether you're looking forward to an African safari, an adoption in Asia or mission work in Latin America, it's best to plan ahead.

Passport Health, 1030 E. 86th St., can help. Part of a nationwide chain, the northside Indianapolis office opened last fall and has vaccinated people traveling to Ethiopia and Indonesia as well as first responders heading to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

"Our goal is to provide as much information to the client as possible," said Michael Durs, president. "Our conversations depend on your health history and where you're going. You've got to be careful when you're traveling overseas, even if you're staying at the Ritz-Carlton."

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Hepatitis A is a communicable (or contagious) disease that spreads from person to person. It is transmitted by the "fecal -- oral route." This does not mean, or course, that Hepatitis A transmission requires that fecal material from an infectious individual must come in contact directly with the mouth of a susceptible individual. It is almost always true that the virus infects a susceptible individual when he or she ingests it, but it gets to the mouth by an indirect route.

Food contaminated with the virus is the most common vehicle transmitting Hepatitis A. The food preparer or cook is the individual most often contaminating the food. He or she is generally not ill: the peak time of infectivity (i.e., when the most virus is present in the stool of an infectious individual) is during the 2 weeks before illness begins.

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By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
May 2, 2006

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Worried about colds, flu and other germs? Go ahead and touch those doorknobs and elevator buttons, but watch out for the telephone, fresh laundry and sinks, a top expert advises.

And while you should always wash your hands before making a meal, many people do not realize that they should do so afterwards also, says Charles Gerba, a microbiologist and clean water expert at the University of Arizona.

"Most of the common infections -- colds, flu, diarrhea -- you get environmentally transmitted either in the air or on surfaces you touch. I think people under-rate surfaces," Gerba said in a telephone interview.

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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 developed sanitation systems such as the United States. Nevertheless, it continues to occur here.

Each year, an estimated 100 persons die as a result of acute liver failure in the United States due to Hepatitis A1. Approximately 30 - 50,000 cases occur yearly in the United States and the direct and indirect costs of these cases exceed $300 million1. The unfortunate aspect of these statistics is that with 21st century medicine, Hepatitis A is totally preventable, and isolated cases, and especially outbreaks relegated to food consumption, need not occur.

Viral Hepatitis is a major public health concern in the United States, and a source of si1gnificant morbidity and mortality.1 The Hepatitis A virus or "HAV" is heat stable and will survive for up to a month at ambient temperatures in the environment.

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