Hepatitis Blog - Surveillance & analysis on hepatitis news & outbreaks

Jason Misner
Jun 28, 2006

Even though regional health officials say an isolated case of Hepatitis A at a local public school poses little risk of an outbreak, two immunization clinics were recently offered as a precaution.

Immunizations were recently given to specific students and staff of C.H. Norton Public School after a kindergarten student was officially diagnosed with a case of Hepatitis A.

C.H. Norton principal Pat Blake described the situation as an "isolated" incident and said there is no school outbreak of the illness that attacks the liver. She confirmed the student is at school and not contagious.

June 27, 2006

HAV and HEV are both forms of food-borne hepatitis. These forms of hepatitis are spread by the fecal-oral route, usually through contaminated food, water, or shellfish, or through oral-anal sexual practices. Most cases of HAV are subclinical. Symptomatic patients may experience low-grade fever, fatigue, nausea, anorexia, myalgia, and malaise, followed by dark urine, light stools, and right upper quadrant discomfort. Liver function tests are elevated, and the patient may develop jaundice and hepatomegaly.

Fortunately, HAV does not lead to a chronic infection or a carrier state and is rarely fatal. Most patients recover uneventfully after a period of rest; however, up to 5% of patients develop a protracted cholestatic hepatitis characterized by an elevated alkaline phosphatase and jaundice. Prevention measures for HAV include washing hands before eating or preparing food, after using the bathroom, and after changing a diaper or cleaning surfaces contaminated with feces, such as a diaper-changing table. Avoiding eating raw uncooked shellfish is another personal health measure than can help prevent transmission of HAV. Individuals who are exposed to HAV and who have not received HAV vaccine should receive prophylactic doses of immune globulin, which provides passive immunity for 2 to 3 months.

June 20th, 2006
Jed Boal Reporting

It's a perfect time to plunge into a swimming pool. But if you're not careful, that cool dip can make you sick.

Many of us spend plenty of time at public pools in the summer. But recreational water illnesses are on the rise, and the health department wants us all to adopt healthy swimming habits.

School is out. Temperatures are climbing. And nearly one thousand licensed swimming pools in Salt Lake County alone are filled with people splashing around.

But, recreational water illnesses are on the rise nationally, and the Salt Lake Valley Health Department urges swimmers to adopt healthy swimming behaviors that will protect everyone.

June 20, 2006
By Leslie Jones McCloud
Post-Tribune correspondent

GARY -- A fear of needles didn't stop the administrators and food handlers of the Gary Community School Corp. from getting poked Monday.

Administrators and food handlers were at the corporation's office to comply with a city ordinance and school policy that requires employees to obtain a health card as a condition of their employment. The health card confirms that the bearer has been tested for three contagious diseases: tuberculosis, syphilis and hepatitis A.

"I just want to hurry up and get it over with. We have to take one every two years," Charmella Greer, public relations specialist for the district, said about getting her blood drawn.

MARLER CLARK MEDIA RELEASE
Contact Suzanne Schreck
(206) 346-1879
sschreck@marlerclark.com

TILLAMOOK, OR (June 19, 2006) -- While the health department investigates the cause of a hepatitis A outbreak among customers who ate at Sharky's restaurant in Tillamook between April 15th and April 30th, it is important for all Tillamook County residents to be aware of the risk for secondary transmission of the hepatitis A virus, and to be well versed in the symptoms of hepatitis A.

Symptoms of hepatitis A infection include fatigue, fever, malaise, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, nausea, and jaundice. Individuals who were exposed to the hepatitis A virus can prevent infection by getting an injection of Immune globulin serum. If administered within 2 weeks of the exposure, it will usually be effective in preventing or at least ameliorating the disease.

Hepatitis A is highly contagious. In some people, the infection can be mild and can spread easily if they do not realize they are ill and fail to wash their hands thoroughly. Typically, one hears of outbreaks in restaurants stemming from an infected food handler. Dozens of people became ill with hepatitis A after eating at two Subway sandwich outlets in the Seattle area in 1999. In 2004, at least four people became ill with hepatitis A after eating at a restaurant near Rochester, New York. One man died.

KMTR-TV
June 17, 2006

An outbreak of hepatitis A has been traced to a restaurant in Tillamook County.TILLAMOOK, Ore. (AP) -

Health officials say the outbreak of the viral liver disease has been traced to Sharky's Restaurant in Rockaway Beach.

Anybody who ate at Sharky's between April 15th and April 30th may have been exposed to hepatitis A and could be getting sick now.

Typical symptoms include fatigue, fever, lethargy, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and jaundice - a yellowing of the skin or eyes.

The virus is transmitted by fecal contamination. The best way to prevent the disease is thorough and repeated handwashing.

By Elizabeth Smoots, MD | PRACTICAL PREVENTION
The Kitsap Sun
June 3, 2006

My patient was very sick with hepatitis A.

Adults usually suffer the most from hepatitis A. But children are the ones who contract it more readily -- usually with mild symptoms or none -- frequently transmitting the infection to family members or close contacts. The good news is that a unique vaccination program in children has dropped the hepatitis A rate 76 percent over six years for all age groups in our country. Here's how the program works and why the government has begun advising hepatitis A vaccines for all one-year-olds.

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, published a report about the federal government's hepatitis A vaccination program in the Journal of the American Medical Association last year. The program targets children ages 2 to 18 years in 17 high-risk states to receive vaccines to prevent hepatitis A. The report states that the rate of infection fell from 10.7 cases per 100,000 people during the pre-vaccination period ending in 1997 to 2.6 cases per 100,000 people in 2003. That latest figure is the lowest rate since monitoring of the disease began in the 1960s.