Shreveport Fire Department
801 Crockett Street Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318/673-6655 FAX: 318/673-6656 http://www.shreveportfire.org
Kelvin J. Cochran, Fire Chief
August 30, 2004
PRESS RELEASE
To: Newsroom
For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Asst. to the Fire Chief
Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137
Firefighter in Desperate Need of Organ Donor for Transplant
Shreveport bravest fighting for life after contracting hepatis on family vacation . . .
A Shreveport Fire Department officer is in the intensive care unity of Willis Knighton Medical Center fighting for his life this morning after being recently diagnosed with Hepatitis “A”. Captain Gene Williams, 49, was vacationing with family in Destin, Florida in July when after arriving back home to Shreveport his wife, Julie, became ill and was diagnosed with Hepatitis A. As a precaution, Gene was given a Globulin shot to boost his immunity against contracting the disease but a short time later, he also became ill and was diagnosed with the condition. While Julie recovered, Gene’s symptoms became increasingly worse. He was admitted to the hospital on August 16. Since that time his state has grown progressively worse and in the last week has become dire. His physicians, including the organ transplant team at LSUHSC say that Gene is in need of a liver transplant as soon as possible.
The Williams’ family and the Shreveport Fire Department are making a rare public appeal for a liver doner. Gene is already on the local, state, and national list – being priority one in Louisiana, but his family and the fire department feel that by bringing added attention to his and others in similar conditions, a family or individual may come forward to donate that would have not normally done so.
The circumstances of how exactly the William’s contracted the disease are still unclear. The family believes that they came into contact with the disease at a restauraunt while on their Florida vacation. Prior to the illness, Gene Williams was the picture of health and in good physical condition. He has been on the fire department since 1981 and served previously as a firefighter, and fire driver before being promoted to captain in 1999. Gene is the captain at Fire Station 5 on Stoner avenue, where he has spent the majority of his fire service career.

Continue Reading Firefighter in Desperate Need of Organ Donor for Transplant

Close Call for Firefighter Draws Attention to Restaurant Cleanliness
Shreveport, LA
KSLA-TV
REPORTER: Jeff Ferrell
The emergency liver transplant this week for a Shreveport Fire Captain, has raised worries about the Hepatitis-A infection, which forced the procedure. It’s believed Captain Gene Williams may have contracted the virus from a buffet while on vacation in Florida.
Worries back here in Caddo Parish have led to more restaurant complaints by the public coming into the Caddo Health Unit.
It turns out, nearly a third of all restaurants in Caddo Parish require a second visit by health inspectors, according to Mike McKinney. “The primary focus should be hand washing, frequency of hand washing.” Lack of handwashing, said McKinney, combined often with uncooked food like vegetables, can transfer viruses like Hepatitis-A.

Continue Reading Hepatitis Worries

UPN-21.com
Gene Williams, the Shreveport firefighter who got a live-saving liver transplant on Tuesday, is awake and improving, his doctors said today.
Williams, who contracted Hepatitis A while on vacation in Florida, was in a coma and suffering liver failure when a donor liver was found Monday. He underwent surgery at the Willis Knighton-LSU transplant center a few hours later.
Williams’ doctor said his patient is awake, alert and following commands. He’s off the ventilator and his liver and kidneys are functioning well.
Fire Department spokesman Brian Crawford said Williams has been able to squeeze family members’ hands but is still unable to talk.

The New Hanover County Health Department received several calls Thursday asking for the name of the restaurant that employed the busboy linked to an recent outbreak of Hepatitis A.
The health department is not releasing the name.
Because the man did not prepare or handle food, health officials said they believe no one who ate at the restaurant is considered at risk. None of the 12 people diagnosed with the Hepatitis A virus thus far contracted it from the restaurant.
The disease is spread person to person by infected fecal matter.
The man no longer works at the restaurant, and the restaurant’s manage-ment has cooperated fully with the health department to ensure there is no further risk to the public.
“If it’s not to protect the public’s health, we’re not at liberty to give the name out,” said Scott Harrelson, health programs administrator.
If they did release the restaurant’s name, he added, it could discourage other restaurants with health issues from asking for assistance from the health department.
— Cheryl Welch

By Cheryl Welch
Staff Writer, Star News Online
cheryl.welch@starnewsonline.com
New Hanover County health officials have asked for help dealing with an outbreak of Hepatitis A.
Hepatitis A is a viral infection that causes flu-like symptoms and can lead to jaundice.
The county, which normally sees three to four cases of Hepatitis A each year, has had 15 confirmed cases this year and officials expect more. Twelve of the cases have been since July 8, and health officials don’t expect to be out of the woods for at least a couple of months.
At least a few of the people infected were hospitalized. None have died.
“We want to try to nip this in the bud, hopefully,” said Janet McCumbee, New Hanover County Health Department personal health services manager.

Continue Reading Officials tracking outbreak of Hepatitis A

Hepatitis A is a communicable (or contagious) disease that spreads from person to person. (It is not acquired from animals, insects, or other means.) 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.”3

Continue Reading How is Hepatitis A transmitted?

Hepatitis A is one of five human hepatitis viruses that primarily infect the human liver and cause human illness. (There are many other viruses that can inflame the liver which infect us more generally.) The other known human hepatitis viruses are hepatitis B, C, D, and E. Hepatitis A is relatively unusual in nations with developed sanitation systems such as the United States. Nevertheless, it continues to occur here.
Each year, an estimated 100 persons die as a result of acute liver failure in the United States due to Hepatitis A1. Approximately 30 – 50,000 cases occur yearly in the United States and the direct and indirect costs of these cases exceed $300 million1. The unfortunate aspect of these statistics is that with 21st century medicine, Hepatitis A is totally preventable, and isolated cases, and especially outbreaks relegated to food consumption, need not occur.
Viral Hepatitis is a major public health concern in the United States, and a source of significant morbidity and mortality.1 The Hepatitis A virus or “HAV” is heat stable and will survive for up to a month at ambient temperatures in the environment.

Public health nurse says hepatitis case is nobody’s fault
BY ERIN DOWER
MALTA — During what should be a booming week, business is dwindling at the Ripe Tomato restaurant at Routes 9 and 9P following an announcement last week that an employee was diagnosed with infectious hepatitis.
Joseph Gleason, the owner of the restaurant, said many tables have been empty since state and county health officials announced Thursday that a part-time food service worker had tested positive for hepatitis A, a viral liver infection.
Gleason said he has had to lay off four cooks since last week because business has dropped off so much.
“These are good-standing, family people,” Gleason said. “Now they’re out of work.”
The infected employee was a student who worked three days a week, he said.

Continue Reading Restaurant hurt by scare

JIM KINNEY , The Saratogian 08/20/2004
MALTA — A food-service worker at The Ripe Tomato on Route 9 in Malta has tested positive for hepatitis A, Saratoga County Public Health said Thursday.
Nurse Terry Stortz, the prevention team supervisor for Public Health, said the employee didn’t work while acutely ill but still could have passed on the virus on uncooked foods including garnishes like lemon slices, chives and scallions.
‘We’re erring on the side of being safe,’ she said. ‘There is no ongoing risk of infection,’
She said The Ripe Tomato, a popular restaurant where Route 9 intersects with 9P, is cooperating and has a history of satisfactory sanitary inspections.
Anyone who ate a garnish at The Ripe Tomato between 5:30 and 10 p.m. on Aug. 7, 9 and 10 should come to Saratoga County Public Health at 31 Woodlawn Ave., Saratoga Springs, for a shot of immune globulin.

Continue Reading Hepatitis found in employee of The Ripe Tomato

Reported by: A.P.
Web produced by: Neil Relyea
8/16/04 4:08:30 PM
Indiana health officials say no new cases of Hepatitis A have been linked to an ill fast-food restaurant worker at Wendy’s located in Marion, north of Indianapolis.
A warning prompted nearly 6,000 people to receive immunization shots more than two weeks ago.
The state Health Department offered the shots after an employee at a Wendy’s restaurant tested positive for the liver disease.
Health officials say no other employees or customers who ate at the restaurant have yet to show signs of hepatitis, but because of the incubation period of the disease, some cases may yet appear.
Wendy’s officials say customers have been returning to the restaurant.
The ill employee spent only a short time in the hospital and plans to return to work after his recovery period.