More than 250 Hepatitis A immunizations were administered today at the Cumberland County Public Health Department to individuals who may have been exposed to the disease at a local restaurant.
Employees and anyone who visited the Olive Garden at 234 North McPherson Church Road anytime on July 26, 28, 29, 31 and Aug. 1, 2
The Cumberland County Health Department announced today that a worker at the Fayetteville Olive Garden worked while infected by hepatitis A virus on July 25, 26, 28, 29, 31 and August 1, 2, and 8. The health department is encouraging anybody who ate at the restaurant on one or more of those dates to get an
SEATTLE–An outbreak of Hepatitis A in the Snoqualmie Valley has county health authorities asking people to get vaccinated. Matias Valenzuela, public education coordinator with the county’s public health department, said his office has responded to six confirmed cases in the Valley, all in adults. No word yet on the source of the outbreak.
Hepatitis A
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The DuPage County Illinois Health Department has reported that four more cases of shigellosis were confirmed Friday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases caused by the outbreak at the Subway restaurant in Lombard to 12. Of those 12 cases, seven have required hospitalization. Six of those who were hospitalized have been released. The restaurant
The recent hepatitis A outbreak at a McDonalds in Milan, Illinois, has claimed at least 26 victims, and has caused the local health departments to innoculate 5,366 people, hopefully catching these folks in the modest window of time to prevent an infected person from becoming ill. This raises a number of questions that we plan to find answers to.
First, at what cost does this innoculation program come to the affected counties? Not good timing, likely, considering the budgeting woes around the country. Second, how many people are "out of the woods"–i.e., people who were infected at McDonalds, but who received their innoculations in time to prevent the onset of symptoms. And finally, perhaps most importantly, what is the real human toll of this outbreak.
As is the case with an illness caused by any bacteria or virus, colloquially called "food poisoning," many people pass off even hepatitis A as some diarrhea, some vomiting, maybe a little jaundice too, and the victim recovers. True for some, but those would be the lucky ones . . . the exceptions to the rule. More typically, hepatitis A causes weeks, if not months, of symptoms. Ask anybody who has been unlucky enough to fall victim. The fatigue is debilitating. The illness (vomiting, nausea, etc.) is sometimes so extreme for so long that people miss enough work to lose their jobs. And the jaundice that typically signifies that "youre on the mend" sometimes causes such embarrasment that victims won’t go out in public.
But that’s just the "typical" hepatitis A illness. We have represented many people who have had not-so-typical illnesses. Here is a brief medical synopsis of how the virus can cause catastrophic liver failure (fulminant hepatitis), requiring liver transplantation for survival, or potentially causing death.
Fulminant hepatitis kills nearly 100 people each year in the United States. Among reported cases for all ages, the fatality rate is approximately 0.3%. This figure, however, increases with age. For sufferers of fulminant hepatitis over 40 years old, the fatality rate is approximately 2%. Continue Reading Foodborne Hepatitis and Catastrophic Liver Failure