California / Hepatitis A Outbreak 2017

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bluedivergirl said:
I wonder why they need armed guards at the portable toilets? Are they vandalized?

I knew nothing about this 'til your posts. I would guess many of these people are already health-compromised. I hope they can get it under control, and other cities take preventive action.
Click to expand...

Hi bluedivergirl, this is a good question, (why do they need armed guards at the portable toilets?).
 
I am seeing now warnings for people who ate at 2 different restaurants in San Diego that they may have been exposed, not naming the restaurants. This is a concern, that spreading will occur to the general population via food contamination, etc.
 
margarita25 said:
"Meanwhile, the outbreak has spread out of San Diego as infected people travel to new cities. Foster said the CDC has issued a nationwide public health alert because the same strain found in San Diego has sickened people in Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Calif., and now a homeless shelter in Maricopa County, Arizona,*and is linked to patients in Colorado, Utah, and Rhode Island as well. Wooten has been busy fielding calls from fellow public health officers around the country asking what they should do."

An outbreak waiting to happen: Hepatitis A marches through San Diego’s homeless community
OCTOBER 6, 2017
https://www.statnews.com/2017/10/06/hepatitis-a-outbreak-san-diego/
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Was just told that they did mandatory Hep A vaccines at the Salt Lake County Jail in Utah. Said there is an outbreak there. Or maybe they were just trying to prevent one, since obviously they have inmates from other states. Also, the recent homeless crack down has resulted in hundreds of homeless being incarcerated in the already overflowing jail.
 
"Chavez said the state has been able to provide about 80,000 doses of the hepatitis A vaccine to at-risk communities through a federal program run by the*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“That is a big chunk of their total supply for the entire country for the year,” Chavez said.*“It’s been very clear that our continued requests for additional vaccines is running into their limit with what they can share with California.”"

Gov. Brown declares state of emergency amid deadly hepatitis A outbreak
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/...f-emergency-amid-deadly-hepatitis-a-outbreak/
 
"California Gov. Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency to combat a hepatitis A outbreak that has claimed 18 lives in San Diego.

Brown said the federally-funded supply of vaccines is inadequate. Friday's proclamation allows the state to buy vaccines directly from manufacturers and distribute them.

The declaration "allows us to move very swiftly," Dr. Gil Chavez, epidemiologist at the California Department of Public Health, told reporters. He said the state would place an order Monday or Tuesday and supplies would reach the state soon after."

California Declares Emergency to Fight Hepatitis A Outbreak
http://www.ktvn.com/story/36600549/california-declares-emergency-to-fight-hepatitis-a-outbreak
 
"In a statement, the CDC said it assigned officials to San Diego in May for five weeks to help identify how the infection spread and prevent additional cases. The agency said it continues to advise health care workers and volunteers.

San Diego County reported an outbreak in March as it grapples with a growing homeless population. The first cases were traced back to November.

Santa Cruz County reported its first cases the following month, and San Diego and Los Angeles counties declared local health emergencies in September.

The outbreak was caused by strains of the 1B genetic subtype, which is rare in the United States and more commonly found in the Mediterranean and South Africa. It is spread through contact with feces, putting people with inadequate access to sanitation at highest risk."

http://www.ktvn.com/story/36600549/california-declares-emergency-to-fight-hepatitis-a-outbreak
 
Mayor unveils program for San Diego's homeless living in vehicles
http://www.cbs8.com/story/36605509/mayor-unveils-program-for-san-diegos-homeless-living-in-vehicles

"The growing number of homeless in the county was already a concern before a hepatitis A outbreak raised worries even more. The outbreak, which has killed 18 people and sickened nearly 500 others, has largely affected the homeless and illicit drug users, and critics contend a shortage of shelter space for the homeless exacerbated the outbreak.

The new safe parking area "will allow individuals and families who are currently living out of their vehicles a safe and secure place to park at night, with case managers and a housing specialist to help them find permanent homes," Block said.

An annual tally of the area's transient population in January found that 962 homeless people were living out of their vehicles, making up 17 percent of the 5,619 total homeless individuals.

"Many of them are couples or families with children," Block said. "Working with non-profits Dreams for Change and Jewish Family Service of San Diego, the city will expand the use of an existing safe parking lot and open a second location.""
 
""This outbreak is different than any other we have seen in the United States in the past decade," said Dr. Matt Zahn, medical director of epidemiology at the Orange County Health Care Agency. "Previously, we have seen outbreaks that are food-borne, with a direct exposure to that food source. Ongoing person-to person spread is really not something we have seen in recent years.""

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/hepati...ak-triggers-state-emergency/story?id=50513882
 
Seeking 'patient zero' in San Diego's hepatitis A outbreak
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/sd-me-hepatitis-patient-zero-20171019-story.html


******************

‘Patient Zero’ in San Diego Hepatitis A Outbreak Is Homeless Man From El Cajon Area: Health Officials
http://ktla.com/2017/10/20/patient-...less-man-from-el-cajon-area-health-officials/

"As San Diego’s hepatitis A outbreak has continued to grow, so has a fascination about the identity and importance of “patient zero,” the first person believed to be infected in a surge of illness that has now killed 19 people.

At first unwilling to say much about this mysterious person, San Diego County health officials disclosed twice during public meetings in late September that the apparent first patient — what epidemiologists often call an outbreak’s “index case” — was a homeless man who tested positive for hepatitis infection in East County."
 
Well, it seems this has finally hit CNN:

California combats deadly hepatitis A outbreak
www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/health/hepatitis-a-outbreak-california-state-of-emergency/index.html

"As firefighters continue to battle blazes across the state of California, public health officials are dealing with another ongoing crisis: one of the largest person-to-person hepatitis A outbreaks in the country since the development of a vaccine, more than two decades ago.

An update provided Thursday by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) raises the case count to 600. 395 people have been hospitalized and 19 have died since November 2016."
 
""We have created ways in which we send teams of people -- a nurse with a community worker -- into the field, literally walking down riverbeds, embankments, going down under freeways and talking to people and asking them to be vaccinated," Chávez said. "This community tends to have a distrust of government and (doesn't want) to talk to you if you're a government official. ... Over time, we've come to realize that we're making inroads and that more and more homeless individuals are agreeing to be vaccinated than when we first started.""

[video]http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/health/hepatitis-a-outbreak-california-state-of-emergency/index.html[/video]
 
""If you dissect the outbreak into the two main counties -- Santa Cruz and San Diego -- we can say comfortably that Santa Cruz has certainly turned the tide and they are on a downward trend," Chávez said. "In San Diego, we've been watching very closely and for the past several weeks, the number of weekly cases has been pretty stable, which is good news."

Chávez said he wants Californians to know that this outbreak, while serious, is not a widespread problem.

"It's really focused on a specific part of the state, in a very specific community," he said. "For the general population of the state, there is no increased risk, so people don't need to worry.""

[video]http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/health/hepatitis-a-outbreak-california-state-of-emergency/index.html[/video]
 
SAN DIEGO HEPATITIS A OUTBREAK: DEATH TOLL RISES IN LARGEST U.S. SCOURGE IN DECADES
http://www.newsweek.com/san-diego-hepatitis-outbreak-death-toll-largest-us-scourge-decades-688616

"The death toll in the hepatitis A outbreak hitting San Diego has been raised to*19 people, according to the most recent data released by the county on Tuesday. This update brings the total number of cases to 507, which includes 351 hospitalizations, according to the Health and Human Services Agency."
 
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