September 26, 2005
Hundreds who attended convention still sought
By Mary Manning
LAS VEGAS SUN
Clark County health officials over the weekend gave shots to 166 people to protect them against hepatitis A, but they are still hoping to reach the rest of the approximately 1,000 people they believe were exposed to the potentially deadly virus at a Las Vegas convention earlier this month.
And they are racing against time.
Gamma globulin shots and hepatitis A vaccinations won’t prevent the spread of the virus after Wednesday, health officials said.
Colorado health officials informed the Clark County Health District on Thursday that a man who attended the Global Gaming Expo conference with its 26,000 delegates was diagnosed with hepatitis A after returning home. He had served ice cream at the Schwan’s Food Service booth, said Jennifer Sizemore, spokeswoman for the Clark County Health District.

Continue Reading Health officials innoculate 166 against hepatitis A

Sep 24, 2005, 09:34 PM
The Associated Press
Nearly 100 people attended a special clinic in Las Vegas Saturday for those who may have been exposed recently to hepatitis A.
Clark County officials warned attendees of the Global Gaming Expo this week that they may have been exposed to the virus, which causes inflammation of the liver. About 25,000 people from all 50 states and 20 countries attended the convention September 13th through 15th at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Health officials say only those who were served ice cream at a Schwan’s Food Service booth at the Expo are at risk for exposure. The 98 people attending today’s clinic received vaccinations and immune globulin. The immune globulin can be given up to 14 days after the exposure.
Another clinic will be held Sunday at the Ravenholt Public Health Center in Las Vegas.

September 23, 2005
Public Health Agency of Canada Infectious Diseases News Brief
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/bid-bmi/dsd-dsm/nb-ab/2005/nb3805_e.html
The Alabama Department of Public Health is investigating an outbreak of hepatitis A. Since the beginning of September, 13 cases have been reported from scattered areas of the state. However, it appears that most of these patients may have contracted the disease after eating raw oysters. Of the 11 patients who have been interviewed, 10 have eaten raw oysters in the period 2-6 weeks before getting sick. At least 5 eating establishments may have been the source of contaminated oysters. Traceback activities will attempt to determine where the oysters were harvested. The investigation is still in progress.
News Release, Alabama Department of Public Health, 13 September 2005

Gaming conference worker infected with hepatitis A
By PAUL HARASIM
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Dr. Lawrence Sands, director of community health for the Clark County Health District, said an infected individual from Colorado served ice cream at the Expo.
Dan Maxson, an environmental health supervisor, said Clark County officials didn’t learn until late this week from Colorado officials that the Schwan food handler had tested positive for the virus.Photo by Ralph Fountain.
The success of a worldwide public health manhunt begun Friday — one spawned by a carrier of the hepatitis A virus at the recent Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas — could literally mean the difference between life or death for some of the 26,000 conventiongoers.
If local, state, and health officials can determine before Wednesday who among the 26,000 might have been exposed to the virus by a food handler during the Sept. 13-15 event, those attendees can receive shots of gamma globulin.
The shot can prevent the onset of hepatitis A symptoms that can result in death or dangerous liver transplants.
Continue reading this story at the Review-Journal Web site.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LAS VEGAS – Sept. 23, 2005 – Persons who attended the Global Gaming Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center (September 13-15, 2005) on September 13-14 may have been exposed to hepatitis A through an infected individual who worked at the conference.
The individual was working at a Schwan’s Food Service booth and was handing out samples of ice cream. The individual serving the product is considered the source of possible exposure and not the ice cream product. Thus, the Clark County Health District has the unique opportunity to notify attendees who may have come into contact with this individual to offer preventive treatment. It is also important to note the infected individual did not show symptoms of the illness until after the conference nor did he know he was infected. The individual was exposed to hepatitis A at an event unrelated to the Gaming Expo, but would have been infectious at the time he was there.

Continue Reading Possible hepatitis A exposure at conference

23/ 09/ 2005
VOLGOGRAD, September 23 (RIA Novosti) – The outbreak of Hepatitis A that hit Nizhny Novgorod, a large city on the Volga east of Moscow, early September is under control, the Health and Social Development Minister told journalists Friday. Mikhail Zurabov said the system of communal services should be improved and that water supply had been disrupted in Nizhny Novgorod in late August, which could have caused the problem.
A total of 990 people, including 198 children, have contracted the disease in the city.

23.09.2005
NIZHNY NOVGOROD, September 23 (Itar-Tass) – 20,900 residents of Nizhny Novgorod have been inoculated against type A hepatitis, Nizhny Novgorod Vice-Mayor Sergei Gladyshev told Itar-Tass on Friday.
Children in orphanages and boarding schools were the first to receive the inoculation, he said.
The city has received 20,000 vaccine doses from the federal authorities, so it can inoculated all residents and even supply some of the vaccine to Dzerzhinsk and Balakhna, which have also reported an increase of the type 1 hepatitis rate.

Continue Reading 20,900 Nizhny Novgorod residents receive hepatitis inoculation