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

Toxic hepatitis has killed a dozen people in Russia since September 2006 after drinking vodka, or so they thought:

And in the northwestern city of Pskov, near the border with Estonia, at least 12 people died of toxic hepatitis and 134 remained hospitalized with the disease after drinking bad alcohol since mid-September, local health officials said.

'All those people were diagnosed for toxic hepatitis caused by some alcohol liquid,' Vladimir Ryabenchenko, head of the Pskov Health Committee's emergency department, told The Associated Press.

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Some students at Tillman Elementary will be required to get an immune globulin shot after the health department reported four cases of hepatitis a at the school:

"PALMETTO - The health department this evening reports that four people at Tillman Elementary School have had hepatitis A in recent months, and that some people at the school will be asked to get shots to prevent their contracting the disease.

In a news release at 5 p.m., the Manatee County Health Department said the four people, who were not identified, have recovered and are no longer infectious.

Hepatitis A, which can be spread by poor hygiene following a bowel movement, infects and can damage the liver."

Technorati Tags: Hepatitis A, Hepatitis A Vaccination

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The Clovis News Journal reported that there have only been two additional cases of Hepatitis A since the Texas Department of Health began offering free imune globulin shots to anyone who patronized the Sonic Drive-In where an employee tested positive for Hepatitis A.  For further information on the shot please contact the Texas Department of State Health Services at (806) 655-7151:

"More than 2,600 shots to prevent hepatitis A have been administered this week in Hereford, Texas, following the diagnosis of a Hereford Sonic Drive-In employee with the virus, according to officials.

The Texas Department of State Health Services began administering free shots Monday afternoon to anyone who patronized the Sonic Drive-In at 305 North 25 Mile Ave. between Oct. 1 and Oct. 13, according to Department spokesperson Doug McBride. "

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The Food Safety Network out of the University of Guelph and Kansas State University put out a new infosheet in response to the most recent hepatitis A scare.  The infosheet can be found at the FSNet Web site.

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The Amarillo News reported that free hepatitis A vaccinations will be offered by the Texas Department of Health for anyone who ate at the Sonic restaurant located at 305 N. 25 Mile Avenue:

An employee at a Hereford Sonic Drive-In who was diagnosed with hepatitis A has led the Texas Department of State Health Services to offer free vaccinations to anyone who may have patronized the restaurant from Oct. 1 to Oct. 13.

Technorati Tags: Hepatitis A Vaccination

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What is hepatitis A? Hepatitis A is a liver disease caused by hepatitis A virus.

How is hepatitis A virus transmitted? Hepatitis A virus is spread from person to person by putting something in the mouth that has been contaminated with the stool of a person with hepatitis A. This type of transmission is called "fecal-oral." For this reason, the virus is more easily spread in areas where there are poor sanitary conditions or where good personal hygiene is not observed.

Most infections result from contact with a household member or sex partner who has hepatitis A. Casual contact, as in the usual office, factory, or school setting, does not spread the virus.

What are the signs and symptoms of hepatitis A? Persons with hepatitis A virus infection may not have any signs or symptoms of the disease. Older persons are more likely to have symptoms than children. If symptoms are present, they usually occur abruptly and may include fever, tiredness, loss of appetite, nausea, abdominal discomfort, dark urine, and jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes). Symptoms usually last less than 2 months; a few persons are ill for as long as 6 months. The average incubation period for hepatitis A is 28 days (range: 15–50 days).

Technorati Tags: Hepatitis A

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There has been an outbreak of hepatitis a in Hong Kong affecting 33 people to date:

Hong Kong health officials issued a warning on Thursday following a spate of poisoning cases suspected to have been caused by oysters. At least 33 people have developed symptoms of food poisoning over the last two weeks after eating raw oysters from four different food premises, said a Department of Health spokesman. The latest case was reported on October 10.

Technorati Tags: Hepatitis A, Raw Oysters

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05.oct.06
Eurosurveillance (Volume 11, Issue 10)
M Kojouharova and Editorial Team
The complete document (including charts) is available at: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ew/2006/061005.asp
Hepatitis A is the most common type of viral hepatitis in Bulgaria, and accounts for more than 75% of all cases of viral hepatitis. Bulgaria is a country with intermediate endemicity of hepatitis A viral (HAV) infection. Between 1984 and 2005, incidence has varied between 27 – 80 cases per 100 000 population during non-epidemic periods, but has reached 234 cases / 100 000 during epidemic periods. Since 1983, all acute cases of jaundice due to hepatitis A virus have been subject to mandatory notification in Bulgaria. Since 2005, the European Union case definition and case classification have been adopted.
Since the beginning of 2006, 4793 viral hepatitis cases have been reported in Bulgaria (1498 cases more than the same period in 2005, when a total of 3295 cases occurred) (Figure 1). The increase of viral hepatitis incidence in 2006 is related mainly to two hepatitis A outbreaks in the regions of Sofia and Plovdiv.

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05.oct.06
Russian News Room
http://www.russiannewsroom.com/send.aspx?id=5413
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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29.sep.06
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)
Clay Holtzman
For 13 years, Seattle attorney William Marler has made a name for himself as the E. coli lawyer. Food service companies, vendors and manufacturers fear him like bacteria fear penicillin. Marler was quoted as saying, "I hope so. We're really good at what we do."
The six-lawyer practice of Marler and Clark LLP specializes in suing producers and manufacturers accused of selling tainted food products. Its clients have received combined settlements and verdicts of more than $250 million. That includes the famous 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli case in Washington state.
Today Marler is tracking the nationwide outbreak of E. coli illnesses tied to bagged spinach. The outbreak has been linked to 183 illnesses in 26 states, according to The Wall Street Journal, including at least one death. Marler is representing 81 of those, including, he says, two deaths that have yet to be announced.
The Bremerton native, who graduated from Washington State University and earned his law degree from Seattle University, talked with the Puget Sound Business Journal at his office.
On how he got started specializing in food-borne illness litigation: It started in 1993 when the Jack in the Box case hit here in Seattle. It was a war zone and I wound up representing a lot of sick kids in that case. After the Jack in the Box case happened I really thought I would just become a trial lawyer again doing what I do. Then the Odwalla case happened which also was sort of focused here. Once that case ended I made a business decision to sort of focus on this type of litigation. I hired Bruce Clark from Karr Tuttle Campbell and Denis Stearns and we started Marler Clark (in 1998). Since then, our focus has been exclusively food-borne illness litigation.

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By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

THE CALIFORNIAN/RICHARD GREEN VIA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Spinach is inspected at a farm near Castroville, Calif., on Friday. The consumer warning on most fresh spinach was lifted last week.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Despite the recent E. coli spinach outbreak, food may be safer now than at any other time in the past decade, with illness occurring at record-low rates, new federal statistics show.

Consumers get part of the credit, for handling food more safely at home, but experts say the biggest improvement came from better industry controls and inspections.

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Monday, October 02, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO — Despite the recent E. coli spinach outbreak, food may be safer now than at any other time in the last decade, with illness occurring at record-low rates, new federal statistics show.

Consumers get part of the credit, for handling food more safely at home, but experts say the biggest improvement came from better industry controls and inspections.

"The food is actually cleaner to begin with," said Dr. Robert Tauxe, top food scientist at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Certain germs have dramatically declined, and "that to me is really solid progress."

However, the trend could reverse in coming years if fruit and vegetable growers do not address problems like those that led to the spinach scare, Tauxe and others said.

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