Hepatitis A Outbreak Ends In Santa Cruz Co., Starts In Another

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA — Just as Monterey County officials announced the beginning of a hepatitis A outbreak affecting their homeless population this morning, Santa Cruz County is celebrating the end of theirs, according to a health department spokesman. Santa Cruz County's hepatitis A outbreak began in April of 2017, leading to 76 cases.

The last documented case was reported on Oct. 28, 2017, but county spokesman Jason Hoppin said that the county waited to declare the end of the outbreak until they were 100 percent sure it was over. The spokesman said that he knew of cases that had been reported as early as December in Monterey County for precisely the same reason as their outbreak originated: sanitation issues.

Hoppin said that while most cases reported were affecting the county's homeless, an estimated 20 percent of cases were outside of that demographic. At least one of these cases led to death where hepatitis A was a
contributing factor, Hoppin said. The decedent had already been in hospice for an extended amount of time and had multiple other illnesses, however, their death was listed as a "hepatitis A death" by state health officials.

The county conducted outreach with the public, local businesses and the impacted populations in order to find a solution to end the outbreak. Hoppin said that they also consulted with health experts and held free
vaccine clinics. The county learned that a food handler in Boulder Creek had contracted hepatitis A and worked while she had it, and in response two vaccine clinics were set up.

"Usually about a dozen people would show up to that kind of an event, but we had at least 100 people turn up at each one," Hoppin said.

The county's environmental health department went to local businesses and discussed proper practices with sanitation and food handling. Hoppin said that he knew of one inspector that visited over 1,000 restaurants
alone to educate employees on how to stop the spreading of hepatitis A.

The county also worked with the city of Santa Cruz to frequent areas that were known to serve as shelters to the homeless to provide whatever resources they could to them as well. Additionally, the county made sure to vaccinate all of their many employees that work directly with the homeless, Hoppin said.

Santa Cruz County worked closely with the state to report any and all cases they knew of as well as the tests they had done; this is what notified the county that there were genetic links to the hepatitis A cases arising in San Diego.

"We usually get one to two cases of hepatitis A each year, so when we get more than that we know something is going on," Hoppin said. "I'd like to thank the public and especially our staff, who worked extraordinarily hard to prevent this outbreak from becoming even worse," Santa Cruz County Public Health Officer Dr. Arnold Leff said in a statement. "To prevent future outbreaks, it is imperative that we maintain public awareness and our sanitation infrastructure."

Hepatitis A is spread through physical contact, county officials said. According to Monterey County Health Department officials, nine people in their county with a history of homelessness have been diagnosed
with hepatitis A since October.

"Despite our efforts, hepatitis A continues to spread among the at-risk population," Monterey County Health Officer Dr. Edward Moreno said in a statement Monday. "To stop the outbreak, we must as a community
collectively increase our efforts to end transmission of the hepatitis A virus."

By Bay City News

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