Local health officials investigate suspected Hepatitis A case
The Imperial County Public Health Department is investigating a suspected case of Hepatitis A that was reported over the weekend.
News 11 spoke to health officials on the incident and learned what is being done to keep the community from being infected.
“Within our investigations we have learned that the individual did not contract the infection here in the valley, here in Imperial Valley. He is currently still being treated at one of our local facilities,” said Karla Lopez, Epidemiologist with Imperial County Public Health Department.
The individual is being described as middle aged and homeless, and was living in the downtown area of San Diego before arriving in Imperial County last week.
Health officials have already started taking precautionary measures by vaccinating those that were in close contact with the individual to prevent any possible contamination from spreading.
“They started offering vaccination events for the homeless. There have been two past events already in Calexico and El Centro and there is one coming up this week in Nilad,” explained Lopez.
The Niland health fair starts at 9 a.m. on Wednesday and free Hepatitis A vaccinations will be available to the homeless.
“The vaccine is available for others, they’re available with their local healthcare provider, they do have a cost, some are covered by medical,” added Lopez.
Because the case is a suspected case, the department says they do not plan on rinsing off sidewalks with bleach as they are doing in San Diego County.
Some symptoms of hepatitis a include: fever, nausea and Jaundice. Just to name a few.
“Hepatitis is a viral illness that is transmitted via the fecal oral system, so anything that is brought into the mouth that is contaminated with feces of a person who has hepatitis a is the way that it is going to be transmitted,” said Lopez.
For more information on hepatitis a and upcoming health fairs, you can visit http://www.icphd.org/ and http://www.co.imperial.ca.us/announcements/PDFs/Niland%20Health%20Fair%20092017.pdf.
