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View Full Version : Hepatitis A is out of control in Florida




Swordsmyth
06-10-2019, 04:08 PM
It was recently brought to my attention that a major Tampa Bay-area grocery store had a Hepatitis A scare when an employee, who worked in food preparation, was diagnosed with the disease after several days of exhibiting symptoms on-the-job. You’d think every customer who ate the food that employee prepared should know, right? Florida’s Department of Health doesn’t think so. With Hepatitis A cases skyrocketing across Florida, reported cases among food workers are also on a steep rise. That’s creating a real public health issue, as ingesting the virus through food or water is the easiest way to contract it. Yet the DOH chooses not to notify the public of some food worker cases, according to a spokesperson, as the agency weighs the risk to patrons against the risk of a public health scare.

In the case of this grocery store employee last week, who was hospitalized after symptoms worsened over the course of several days, the DOH determined there was “no risk” to customers or even many employees at the store, according to a spokesperson for the grocery chain. However, neither the DOH nor the Florida Department of Agriculture would answer questions or provide public records this past week about their joint investigation. Only after days of pressure from a reporter did the DOH acknowledge its investigation was not exempt from public record; however, none were provided as of Saturday. Not every Hepatitis case may necessitate public notice, but if you pay attention to the news, it’s becoming a daily occurrence in Florida (https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1RUCY_enUS778US778&biw=1536&bih=722&tbm=nws&ei=OpX7XKThFYLt5gLWiLtw&q=hepatitis+tampa+bay+employee+food&oq=hepatitis+tampa+bay+employee+food&gs_l=psy-ab.3...74164.81331.0.81478.43.34.6.0.0.0.147.3452. 15j17.32.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..5.15.1663...0j33i299k1.0.W7iL2qzZVvA). The state reports more cases of Hepatitis A in the first five months of 2019 (http://www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-and-conditions/vaccine-preventable-disease/hepatitis-a/surveillance-data/index.html) than the previous five years combined. Tampa Bay is ground zero for the epidemic, with cases of the liver virus particularly prevalent in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties.

More at: https://floridapolitics.com/archives/298291-hepatitis-a-is-out-of-control-in-florida-heres-why-the-state-isnt-telling-you-about-every-case

phill4paul
06-10-2019, 04:14 PM
Typhoid Maria is a good thing. Diversity. Wonderfulness.

Anti Globalist
06-10-2019, 05:24 PM
Bet its even more out of control in California.

Zippyjuan
06-10-2019, 05:37 PM
Bet its even more out of control in California.

State-Reported Hepatitis A Outbreak Cases as of June 7, 2019

https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/outbreaks/images/State-reportedHepatitisAOutbreakCases.jpg

https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/outbreaks/2017March-HepatitisA.htm

Most cases? Kentucky with 4,682 and 58 deaths.

Ohio- 2,997

West Virginia- 2,528

Florida- 1,876

Tennessee- 1,571

Indiana- 1,544

Michigan- 914

The rest below 500 each.

donnay
06-10-2019, 06:00 PM
It was recently brought to my attention that a major Tampa Bay-area grocery store had a Hepatitis A scare when an employee, who worked in food preparation, was diagnosed with the disease after several days of exhibiting symptoms on-the-job. You’d think every customer who ate the food that employee prepared should know, right? Florida’s Department of Health doesn’t think so. With Hepatitis A cases skyrocketing across Florida, reported cases among food workers are also on a steep rise. That’s creating a real public health issue, as ingesting the virus through food or water is the easiest way to contract it. Yet the DOH chooses not to notify the public of some food worker cases, according to a spokesperson, as the agency weighs the risk to patrons against the risk of a public health scare.

In the case of this grocery store employee last week, who was hospitalized after symptoms worsened over the course of several days, the DOH determined there was “no risk” to customers or even many employees at the store, according to a spokesperson for the grocery chain. However, neither the DOH nor the Florida Department of Agriculture would answer questions or provide public records this past week about their joint investigation. Only after days of pressure from a reporter did the DOH acknowledge its investigation was not exempt from public record; however, none were provided as of Saturday. Not every Hepatitis case may necessitate public notice, but if you pay attention to the news, it’s becoming a daily occurrence in Florida (https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1RUCY_enUS778US778&biw=1536&bih=722&tbm=nws&ei=OpX7XKThFYLt5gLWiLtw&q=hepatitis+tampa+bay+employee+food&oq=hepatitis+tampa+bay+employee+food&gs_l=psy-ab.3...74164.81331.0.81478.43.34.6.0.0.0.147.3452. 15j17.32.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..5.15.1663...0j33i299k1.0.W7iL2qzZVvA). The state reports more cases of Hepatitis A in the first five months of 2019 (http://www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-and-conditions/vaccine-preventable-disease/hepatitis-a/surveillance-data/index.html) than the previous five years combined. Tampa Bay is ground zero for the epidemic, with cases of the liver virus particularly prevalent in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties.

More at: https://floridapolitics.com/archives/298291-hepatitis-a-is-out-of-control-in-florida-heres-why-the-state-isnt-telling-you-about-every-case

The Health officials are probably working with Big pHARMa so that they can push the vaccine as the saving grace.

Swordsmyth
06-10-2019, 06:22 PM
The Health officials are probably working with Big pHARMa so that they can push the vaccine as the saving grace.
The article certainly does push it.

oyarde
06-10-2019, 06:25 PM
Seems like a lot of deaths in Kentucky .

Zippyjuan
06-10-2019, 06:30 PM
Seems like a lot of deaths in Kentucky .

Most of the high hep-A states are also high on the drug overdose death list. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/images/databriefs/301-350/db329_fig3.png

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/images/databriefs/301-350/db329_fig3.png

oyarde
06-10-2019, 06:33 PM
Most of the high hep-A states are also high on the drug overdose death list.

https://www.wcpo.com/news/state/state-ohio/tri-state-among-leaders-in-drug-overdose-deaths-in-2017

I know here in Indiana , Kentucky, Cincy , West Va there are a lot of drug users . I figured by now maybe they were more aware . Guess not . The war on drugs only incarcerates more people . It does not result in less drug users.

TheTexan
06-10-2019, 06:34 PM
It's probably the gays causing the outbreak.

Zippyjuan
06-10-2019, 06:39 PM
I know here in Indiana , Kentucky, Cincy , West Va there are a lot of drug users . I figured by now maybe they were more aware . Guess not . The war on drugs only incarcerates more people . It does not result in less drug users.

Portugal changed their system- while having "dealer amounts" of drugs can send you to jail, if you have "personal amounts" you go to a "drug court" where you are sent to mandatory therapy. Costs less than prison and has a better success rate. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/05/portugals-radical-drugs-policy-is-working-why-hasnt-the-world-copied-it


In 2001, nearly two decades into Pereira’s accidental specialisation in addiction, Portugal became the first country to decriminalise the possession and consumption of all illicit substances. Rather than being arrested, those caught with a personal supply might be given a warning, a small fine, or told to appear before a local commission – a doctor, a lawyer and a social worker – about treatment, harm reduction, and the support services that were available to them.

The opioid crisis soon stabilised, and the ensuing years saw dramatic drops in problematic drug use, HIV and hepatitis infection rates, overdose deaths, drug-related crime and incarceration rates. HIV infection plummeted from an all-time high in 2000 of 104.2 new cases per million to 4.2 cases per million in 2015. The data behind these changes has been studied and cited as evidence by harm-reduction movements around the globe. It’s misleading, however, to credit these positive results entirely to a change in law.

Portugal’s remarkable recovery, and the fact that it has held steady through several changes in government – including conservative leaders who would have preferred to return to the US-style war on drugs – could not have happened without an enormous cultural shift, and a change in how the country viewed drugs, addiction – and itself. In many ways, the law was merely a reflection of transformations that were already happening in clinics, in pharmacies and around kitchen tables across the country. The official policy of decriminalisation made it far easier for a broad range of services (health, psychiatry, employment, housing etc) that had been struggling to pool their resources and expertise, to work together more effectively to serve their communities.

The language began to shift, too. Those who had been referred to sneeringly as drogados (junkies) – became known more broadly, more sympathetically, and more accurately, as “people who use drugs” or “people with addiction disorders”. This, too, was crucial.

It is important to note that Portugal stabilised its opioid crisis, but it didn’t make it disappear. While drug-related death, incarceration and infection rates plummeted, the country still had to deal with the health complications of long-term problematic drug use. Diseases including hepatitis C, cirrhosis and liver cancer are a burden on a health system that is still struggling to recover from recession and cutbacks. In this way, Portugal’s story serves as a warning of challenges yet to come.

more at link.