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San Diego's homeless population has been hit hardest by the highly contagious hepatitis A virus.
The outbreak, which began in November, has spread after vaccination and educational programs in the city failed to reduce the infection rate. The virus attacks the liver.
The public health declaration bolsters the county Health and Human Services Agency's ability to request state assistance to fund new sanitation measures. Areas with high concentrations of homeless people will receive dozens of portable hand-washing stations. Health workers will also use bleached-spiked water for power-washing contaminated surfaces.
Dr. Wilma Wooten, the San Diego Public Health Officer who signed the declaration into law on Friday, says the sanitation precautions are modeled after similar programs in other Southern California cities - including Los Angeles.
Also at Voice of San Diego, The San Diego Union-Tribune, and LA Times.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @07:37PM (1 child)
Apparently Hep-A can survive in wastewater flow, and if treatment plants don't have sufficient filtration/chemical reactivity it can make its way back into the 'freshwater' supply and recontaminate the populace.
This was a common problem in the Carribbean when I visited a few years back. You only drank filtered water (even the natives!) or boiled water, and never used anything from the tap that would go in your mouth.
On the other hand, everything I read about Hep-A, unlike B and C, generally has no long term effects on healthy people if infected, is not transmissible ~6 months after an infection, and as long as you don't eat too many fatty foods while sick with it, will not usually damage your liver, unlike Hep B and C.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday September 04 2017, @08:10PM
I should know this - As of a few years ago I still had the antibodies of hep A in my bloodstream. I got it when I was 10, ate a bad batch of side-of-the-road strawberries. Not unpleasant at all, though, and not even remotely a menace to my liver when compared to...other habits. Still, everytime I visit my doctor I order the "drunks' special" blood tests, which are liver-enzymes, blood-sugar stuff like A1C, and any fucking STD that can possibly be detected by human technology. Been lucky so far.
Anyway, the hep-A hysteria is waaaaaay overblown. Reminds me of the swine flu hysteria when people started wearing surgical masks everywhere and shit.