Local group works to prevent Hepatitis A outbreak in area

The Calexico Brown Bag Coalition said they’re very concerned about a possible Hepatitis A outbreak in Imperial Valley among the homeless and general population.

Coalition Co-Founder Maribel Padilla said, “It alarms me because we are not San Diego. We don’t have the resources that they have over there. Calexico is poor. This valley is poor.”

The outbreak in San Diego put over 400 in the hospital and killed 15. The coalition is taking steps to help prevent the disease from coming to the area.

Padilla raised a plastic bag with several items inside.

“We’re passing out kits. It has a wash cloth, it has some soap. We have hand sanitizer. And we’ve included two bottles of water so they can wash their hands during the day,” Padilla said.

At the nightly feeding of the homeless across the street from the One-Stop on Third Street, Padilla said they have a wash stations.

“We’ve done this because we want to prevent that virus coming here like it has done in San Diego and it has killed already 15 people,” Padilla said.

She said the local health department is also taking prevention steps.

“They came August 9 th and they brought their mobile unit and they vaccinated 25 of the homeless that you see here,” Padilla said.

She said the homeless population of nearly one thousand countywide is vulnerable to an outbreak.

“They share with each other. If one gets a sandwich, they share with the other. And if you don’t wash your hands and you have it, you pass it on to that other person,” Padilla said.

But the disease is not limited to the homeless.

“Anyone can get the virus if you don’t wash your hands,” Padilla said.

Pioneers Memorial Hospital Director of Communications and Public Affairs Frank Salazar assured us that “we have no cases reported on hepatitis a as of now. We are in communication with the Imperial County Public Health Department who also has reported that there are no cases of hepatitis a at the very moment.”