10 more suspected; health officials refuse to identify property in investigation
by Dale Neal, DNEAL@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM
September 14, 2006
MARSHALL — Health officials suspect contaminated drinking water might have caused 14 cases of hepatitis A among guests visiting a Madison County property this summer.
Four Madison County residents were confirmed to have the liver disease, while 10 more cases are under investigation in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, New Jersey, Washington and Oregon.
People who work on the property or were guests there are suspected to have contracted hepatitis from contaminated drinking water, the Madison County Health Department said Wednesday.
The department said Madison County residents face little or no risk from the outbreak because of precautions already put in place.
Officials would not identify the property in northeastern Madison County near the Appalachian Trail and the Tennessee border, but they said the property owner was cooperating with the investigation.
There has been no evidence to suggest transmission of hepatitis A from produce grown in a garden and greenhouse on the property, and no produce has been sold in the past four months, the Madison County Health Department said in a statement.
Produce was grown in a greenhouse apparently watered from the contaminated spring, according to Jan Lounsbury, acting director of the Madison County Health Department.
“I cannot give specifics about which farm, or where it is located until further into the investigation,” Lounsbury said Wednesday morning at a press conference. “We don’t want people to panic … Just be aware of the signs and symptoms and report them to their local health department or health care provider.”
The source of the outbreak, which is believed to have occurred in July or August, is still under investigation, Lounsbury said.
The property was not listed on any database of “Madison County farms, the Farm Service Agency, the state of North Carolina or a certified farming agency,” said Ross Young, Cooperative Extension agent for Madison County.
Call for information
Carol Schriber, public information officer with the state Department of Health and Human Services, said she has asked the county to identify the property to put the public at ease and protect farmers.
“That way they are not worried about all the other properties,” she said. “That way they are not saying ‘I better not buy any produce in Madison County.’”
The health department said all visitors to the property who may have been exposed to hepatitis A have been identified and given shots of immune globulin. A “boil water” order was issued for the property, and all distribution of any produce grown from a garden on the property has been halted.
Officials said they also are investigating the possibility that last month’s case at Trevi Restaurant & Gourmet Market in Asheville was linked to a guest at the property.
“That link was looked at, but we haven’t gotten any confirmation of it,” Buncombe County Health Department spokeswoman Beverly Levinson said.
Officials are waiting for lab work to return and interviews to wrap up, she said.
Buncombe County has found seven cases of hepatitis A so far this year, Levinson said.
Staff writers Natalie Keaton, Jordan Schrader and Jon Ostendorff contributed to this story.
Contact Dale Neal at 828-232-5970 or via e-mail at dneal@ashevill.gannett.com.