By Jennifer Bails
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Health officials responded faster to the hepatitis A outbreak in Beaver County two years ago because genetic tests used during the outbreak produced results within a few days, according to a new state and federal report.
A technique called viral sequencing enabled the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to launch an immediate investigation to see if green onions imported from Mexico caused the outbreak that sickened 660 people and killed four, according to an analysis to be published in the Oct. 15 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, but now available online.
Without this molecular evidence, the FDA couldn’t have begun tracing the source until medical detectives finished interviewing hepatitis A patients about their symptoms and what foods they ate and where, said Dr. Anthony Fiore, a medical epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Continue Reading Genetic tests vital in hepatitis outbreak

2005-09-29
MOSCOW, Sept. 29 (Xinhuanet) — More than 1,000 people infected with Hepatitis A have been hospitalized in the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia after an epidemic situation there deteriorated, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported on Thursday.
“The epidemiological situation connected with viral hepatitis has exacerbated from September 5 in the cities of Nizhny Novgorod,Dzerzhinsk and Balakhna,” the report quoted a spokesman of the Emergency Situations Ministry as saying on Thursday.
At present, 1,034 people diagnosed with Hepatitis A have been hospitalized, 956 of them in the third-largest city of Nizhny Novgorod, 32 in Dzerchionsk and 46 in Balakhna. A total of 211 children were also admitted to hospital.

Continue Reading Hepatitis epidemic worsening in western region of Russia

ALBANY, N.Y. The state Health Department says people who attended a gaming expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center on September 13th and 14th may have been exposed to Hepatitis A through an infected worker.
The person suspected of spreading the illness was handing out free samples of ice cream at a Schwan’s food service booth at the convention center.
As a precaution, the Health Department is advising anyone who went to the conference and had ice cream at the booth on either day to immediately get an immune globulin immunization.
Immune globulin can provide some protection against hepatitis a infection if it is given within 14 days after a person has been exposed.

The Philippine Society for Microbiology, Inc. believes that germ cross- contamination in your kitchen can be the culprit of the spread of disease-causing bacteria. Germ cross-contamination occurs when bacteria are passed on from the original source to another person or object.
A study conducted by an American microbiologist from the University of Arizona in the US showed that there are more disease-causing bacteria in kitchens than in any other place at home such as the bathroom. The study reveals that food can carry organisms like E. coli, Salmonella spp., and Hepatitis A, which can cause illness.

Continue Reading Kitchen sponge may cause food-borne illness, experts warn

September 28, 2005
CONCORD, N.H. –A federal judge has thrown out a Derry family’s lawsuit claiming they got sick after eating at a Taco Bell where a worker was diagnosed with Hepatitis A.
Judge Joseph DiClerico said Friday that the family’s claim lacked evidence that the food they ate was infected, or that their suffering merited compensation.
DiClerico also pointed out no doctor ever told Wendy and John Evans, or their three children, that the symptoms they experienced were related to the food they ate at Taco Bell. He said they never sought medical care, even though they complained of suffering from nausea, stomach pains, diarrhea and other symptoms.

Continue Reading Judge dismisses family’s Taco Bell lawsuit

By Beth Aaron/Senior Staff Writer
September 28, 2005
A food handler who worked at Angelita’s Kitchen, 5401 South Ave. Q, may have infected customers who dined at the restaurant between Sept. 9 and Sept. 11 with hepatitis A, according to a City of Lubbock Health Department alert.
“Although the risk of infection is considered to be low, it’s still a concern,” said Tigi Ward, public health coordinator for the City of Lubbock Health Department.
Environmental Health has worked with the restaurant, and the establishment still is open for business, Ward said.

Continue Reading Hepatitis A outbreak may have stemmed from local food handler

By Susan L. Burke, MS, RD/LD, CDE
eDiets Chief Nutritionist
Mad cow disease has thousands turning up their noses at burgers. Meat sales are down, and moms don’t know whether they can take their kids to the fast-food playground. Consumers are all atwitter, frightened that they’ll fall victim to the disease that causes cows to fall down and become paralyzed. But, health experts want you to know that there is a much larger threat to public health than eating beef.
In fact, only one person has come down with the human form of mad cow disease in the U.S., and it’s not linked to the one cow that they’ve isolated with the disease in this country. Although there’s a problem with beef, it’s not from mad cow. And, there’s a problem with food in general.
Food Borne Illness is a Big, Deadly Problem.

Continue Reading How Now Mad Cow: Real Food Safety Concerns

27 September 2005
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — As reported by the Reno Gazette-Journal: “Health officials are offering preventative shots to the estimated 650 people from Northern Nevada who attended a conference in Las Vegas where they might have been exposed to hepatitis-A.
“A worker at the Schwan’s Food Co. booth who served free ice cream to attendees of the Global Gaming Expo the week of Sept. 12 learned he had hepatitis-A after the event, officials said.
“Although there is no treatment for hepatitis A, symptoms can be prevented if a person exposed to the virus receives gamma globulin within 14 days.

Continue Reading Gaming Attendees Warned of Hepatitis