Produce Worker At Littleton, CO Albertson's Tests Positive For Hepatitis A

Posted on April 19, 2009 by Hepatitis A Attorney

 Did you ever notice the people in the produce department at the grocery store are always the friendliest?  That's probably no comfort to customers at the Albertson's in Littleton, CO who are being told that if they consumed store produced produce they should think about getting Hepatitis A vaccine shots.

The local health department will be offer vaccinations at Columbine United Church at 6375 South Platte Canyon Road Monday from 4 to 9 p.m. and Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The church is at South Platte Canyon Road and West Coal Mine Avenue, about one-half mile south of the Albertsons.

Health officials are warning those who have bought green onions, celery that has had the leaves trimmed, any lettuce that was not pre-bagged, any pre-cut watermelon, cantaloupe or honeydew melon.  They said the overall risk was low as the employee who tested positive for Hepatitis A did practice both thorough hand-washing and wore gloves.  

However, about 3,000 food items were subject to exposure.  For more, check out the story in Denver's last remaining daily newspaper here.

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Richard Miller - One Man's Hepatitis A Story

Posted on April 15, 2009 by Hepatitis A Attorney

 In late October 2003, Beaver County ER doctors reported an alarming number of Hepatitis A cases.

Investigators from the Pennsylvania Department of Health initiated an investigation immediately and discovered that many, if not all, cases had eaten at Chi Chi’s restaurant in Monaca, Pennsylvania’s Beaver Valley Mall.

Along with the health department, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted further studies of the outbreak. Preliminary analysis of a case-control study suggested that green onions were the probable source of the outbreak.

The onions had been shipped to the restaurant in boxes and were stored and refrigerated in buckets of ice. They were eventually chopped up and served in various dishes at the restaurant, often uncooked, as in the preparation of mild salsa.

“Preliminary trace-back information indicated that the green onions supplied to Chi Chi’s had been grown in Mexico.” Ultimately, over 650 people were sickened in the outbreak. The victims included at least thirteen Chi Chi’s employees and numerous residents of six other states. Four people died from their injuries, and more than 9,000 people obtained immune globulin shots as protection against the virus.

This is the story of one of those cases (click below to see short quicktime video):

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Hard To Treat Diseases (HTDS) Offers Hepatitis A Vaccine in India

Posted on April 14, 2009 by Hepatitis A Lawyer

This release from a single company speaks volumes about the size of the Hepatitis A vaccine market in India, which has developed in only the last few years.  It says:

 Hard To Treat Diseases (HTDS)  says its China based operating subsidiary Mellow Hope has surpassed sales of 200,000 units of Hepatitis A Vaccine in India.

The Hepatitis A Vaccine (BIOVAC-A) was first launched in the market of India in December, 2005.

Terry Yuan, CEO added "Because our product is single-dose vaccine, so (sic) our price is almost the half of other multinational competitors' price. Our sales volume keeps growing continuously. To well promote our AV and convince the local people that our product is equal or better to our multinational competitors, we had conducted a Multi-centric clinical trial in 2007. The results proved that our product offers great safety and efficacy. Subsequently, this trial report was published in the International Journal. As a company, we hold two seminars' every year, one in India and one in China".

The company will provide further details as they become available. 

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