William D. Marler (www.williammarler.com), an attorney at Marler Clark LLP PS (http://www.marlerclark.com) has extensive experience representing victims of bacterial and viral food poisonings. Since 1993, Marler Clark has represented victims of most of the largest foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, including the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli, 1998 Odwalla E. coli,…

July 6, 2005
Associated Press
Concord, N.H. — The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services was cited as saying that the state has seen a dramatic increase in cases of Hepatitis A, with 48 confirmed cases so far this year, up from a usual 15 to 20 cases per year.
The story notes…

From the CDC
SIGNS & SYMPTOMS
Adults will have signs and symptoms more often than children.
jaundice
fatigue
abdominal pain
loss of appetite
nausea
diarrhea
fever
CAUSE
Hepatitis A virus (HAV)
LONG-TERM EFFECTS
There is no chronic (long-term) infection.
Once you have had hepatitis A you cannot get it again.
About 15% of people infected…

From FDA – Bad Bug Book
Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is classified with the enterovirus group of the Picornaviridae family. HAV has a single molecule of RNA surrounded by a small (27 nm diameter) protein capsid and a buoyant density in CsCl of 1.33 g/ml. Many other picornaviruses cause human disease, including polioviruses, coxsackieviruses, echoviruses, and rhinoviruses (cold viruses).Continue Reading Hepatitis A

By Carole Sugarman
My daughter never met a chicken tender she didn’t like. But during a recent family vacation in Florida, 9-year-old Anna was struck with a bad case of salmonellosis — disease caused by salmonella. And while we’ll never know for sure, we strongly suspect it was caused by contaminated, undercooked poultry at one of her daily restaurant chicken meals.
There is more than a little irony in this tale of excruciating stomach pains, bathroom vigils and hospital emergency rooms.
As a food writer for 25 years, I’ve interviewed numerous victims of food-borne diseases and parents of children who’ve died from them. I’ve attended scores of conferences and hearings where food safety issues are debated among government officials, industry and activist groups.Continue Reading A Taste of Food Poisoning

POSTED: 11:58 am EDT July 5, 2005
CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire health officials said Tuesday that the state has seen a dramatic increase in cases of hepatitis A — a virus that causes liver disease.
The Department of Health and Human Services said that in a typical year, New Hampshire sees between 15 and…

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. Hepatitis A is spread almost exclusively through fecal-oral contact, generally from person-to-person, or via contaminated food or water. Outbreaks associated with food have been increasingly implicated as a significant source of Hepatitis A infection. Such “outbreaks are usually associated with contamination of food during preparation by an HAV-infected food handler.”2 Indeed, “[v]iral gastroenteritis was reported as the most common food-borne illness in Minnesota from 1984 to 1991, predominantly associated with poor personal hygiene of infected food handlers.”3Continue Reading How is Hepatitis A transmitted?