“California’s deadly hepatitis A outbreak could last years”
USA - California’s outbreak of hepatitis A, already the nation’s second largest in the last 20 years, could continue for many more months, even years, health officials said Thursday.
At least 568 people have been infected and 17 have died of the virus since November in San Diego, Santa Cruz and Los Angeles counties, where local outbreaks have been declared.
Dr. Monique Foster, a medical epidemiologist with Division of Viral Hepatitis at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters Thursday that California’s outbreak could linger even with the right prevention efforts.
“It’s not unusual for them to last quite some time — usually over a year, one to two years,” Foster said.
That forecast has worried health officials across the state, even in regions where there haven’t yet been cases. Many are beginning to offer vaccines to their homeless populations, which are considered most at risk. Doctors know that people with hepatitis A — who may not even have symptoms — could travel and unknowingly infect people in a new region, creating more outbreaks.
San Diego County declared a public health emergency in September because of its hepatitis A outbreak. Since November, 481 people there have been infected, including 17 who died, according to the county’s health department. The only outbreak in the last 20 years bigger than California’s occurred in Pennsylvania in 2003, when more than 900 people were infected after eating contaminated green onions at a restaurant.
The hepatitis A virus, which causes liver damage, took root in San Diego’s homeless community. It is transmitted from feces to mouth, so unsanitary conditions make it more likely to spread. A common way for the virus to be transmitted is when an infected person uses the bathroom and doesn’t wash his hands, experts say.
San Diego’s outbreak then spread to Santa Cruz County, where 70 people have been infected so far, said county public health manager Jessica Randolph. There are typically one or two hepatitis A cases in the county each year. Randolph said Santa Cruz County has distributed 1,381 doses of the vaccine so far, and plan to continue the effort.
It can take up to 50 days for an infected person to show symptoms, so more cases could appear, she said. “I don’t think the worst over,” Randolph said.
Health workers in Los Angeles are also trying to vaccinate the region’s massive homeless population after an outbreak was declared in the county last month. So far, 12 people have been infected, most of whom were either in San Diego or Santa Cruz when they were exposed.
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(LATIMES)