July 2006

Bulgaria in Brief: 25 July 2006, Tuesday.
The number of people infected with hepatitis A in the small town of Svoge, located near capital Sofia, has gone up to 133. Media reports that the number of the infected people grew up drastically in a few days and Bulgaria’s Health Ministry is expecting it to grow…

ABC.NET.AU
Wednesday, 19/07/2006
One of the country’s largest pork suppliers says there is little risk of its customers contracting hepatitis A, despite one of its staff falling ill from the virus earlier this month.
Toowoomba-based company KR Castlemaine Foods, in southern Queensland, is today advertising product recall notices in all national newspapers.
Over the next two days KR Castlemaine is recalling 6,000 cartons of product from across Australia.Continue Reading Pork supplier plays down hepatitis A concerns

18.jul.06
AAP
news.com.au
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19830446-1248,00.html
KR Castlemaine, one of Australia’s largest meat producers, has, according to this story, issued a nationwide recall of some of its products after an employee fell ill with the potentially fatal hepatitis A virus and after consultations with Queensland Health and the Communicable Disease Network Australia.
The story says that the female employee, who works on the packaging line, was first diagnosed with the disease on July 9 after attending Toowoomba Hospital.
She is now receiving treatment and is recovering from the illness.
The 800 staff at the factory are being monitored for symptoms of the highly contagious disease.Continue Reading Hep A scare prompts national product recall

By JOY BUCHANAN
Staff Writer
The Tennessean
July 17, 2006
You’d think parents throughout Middle Tennessee had back-to-school preparation down pat.
But local school officials say that many parents don’t give them basic information, including working phone numbers or lists of medications, to help students in a health emergency.
Besides that, officials have a list of annual reminders for parents and students to heed before descending on their schools in a few weeks. Everything from vaccinations to hand washing would help the school year go more smoothly with fewer health crises for the kids.Continue Reading Head back to school with this health checklist

16.jul.06
NWA News
Van Banks
Hepatitis A is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV ). Hepatitis A is an enteric virus that is very small. It can be transferred through contaminated water, causing outbreaks.
In the United States, hepatitis A infections can affect anyone. It can occur in isolated situations or in widespread epidemics. Hepatitis A virus is found in the stool of persons with HAV. Hepatitis A is usually spread from person to person by putting something in your mouth that has been contaminated with the stool of a person with hepatitis A. For this rea son, the virus is more easily spread in areas where there are poor sanitary conditions or where personal hygiene is poor.
Persons with hepatitis A can spread the virus to others who live in the same household. It can also be spread to those with whom they have sexual contact. Casual contact, as those in the office, factory, or school setting, does not spread the virus.Continue Reading After the storm : Monitoring hepatitis A

Salmonella, hepatitis A and E. coli are caused by ingesting contaminated food products.
Jennifer M. Phelps
News-Leader
July 16, 2006
This interview is with Dr. Donald L. Maples Jr., a doctor of osteopathy and family practice physician at Butterfield Park Medical Center, a Citizens Memorial Healthcare Clinic. He’s been with CMH for a year.
Q:…

By Mayo Clinic Staff
Jul 14, 2006
Despite the occasional news report of an outbreak of food poisoning, food supplies in the United States are inspected and generally very safe. But it’s impossible to keep the entire food supply completely free of potentially dangerous bacteria. For this reason, you need to take precautions at home…

Don’t get bugged when you travel
July 6 2006
Sometimes it feels like we’re so bombarded with warnings about disease outbreaks around the world, you just want to stay home! Avian influenza, SARS, malaria, cholera, ebola… the list goes on, with new bugs popping up every year and old bugs making a comeback… some of them impossible to pronounce!
Travelling around the globe is more commonplace today than ever. But when people travel, they often unwittingly bring along extra baggage that they didn’t even know they packed. Viruses and bacteria are always on the move, as travelers carry them either by travelling while ill or by being a carrier – having the infection but not experiencing symptoms yet.
Some illnesses are caused by animal or insect bites, others from contaminated food or water, others from close human contact in mostly rural areas. In the past ten years, Health Canada has posted travel advisories and outbreaks for the following conditions:Continue Reading Travel Bugs

By Brundage, Stephanie C; Fitzpatrick, A Nicole
A prolonged or relapsing course of illness lasting several months occurs in 10 to 20 percent of symptomatic patients, wit\h persistent fever, severe pruritus, jaundice, diarrhea, weight loss, and malabsorption.4,6-8
Liver enzyme levels return gradually to normal, but the bilirubin level remains elevated.6 Patients with a relapse or a prolonged course should be regarded as potentially infectious.4 A small subset of patients with hepatitis A develop extrahepatic manifestations, which are listed in Table 2.4,6
Less than 1 percent of patients experience a fulminant course of illness characterized by worsening jaundice and development of encephalopathy. Advanced age and comorbid conditions such as chronic liver disease increase the risk of a fulminant course, which often results in death or an emergent liver transplant.4,6 Prognostic indicators used to support the need for a liver transplant are age younger than 10 years or older than 40 years, jaundice lasting more than seven days before the onset of encephalopathy, increased levels of serum bilirubin (more than 17 mg per dL [291 mol per L]), and prolonged prothrombin time (more than 25 seconds).19 The overall fatality rate is relatively low (0.3 percent), but increases to 2 percent in adults older than 40 years.7
Treatment
Treatment is supportive and includes appropriate rest when necessary,4 balanced nutrition, and avoidance of hepatotoxins such as alcohol and acetaminophen.6 No specific antiviral therapy currently is available.8,12 About 30 percent of symptomatic patients require hospitalization for dehydration, severe prostration, coagulopathy, encephalopathy, or other evidence of hepatic decompensation.6,17
Caregivers should observe strict contact precautions during the infectious period with patients who are diapered or incontinent. Otherwise healthy adult patients are noninfectious by two weeks after the onset of illness, but children and immunocompromised persons may remain infectious for up to six months.8-11Continue Reading Complications of Hepatitis A