More than 800 people in Michigan are infected with hepatitis A strain that causes severe complications and liver failure.
This outbreak sets the highest morbidity and mortality case in the history of hepatitis A in the United States.
The Worst Hepatitis A Outbreak
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services recorded 837 cases of hepatitis A as of May 23 including 671 hospitalizations and 27 deaths. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they are investigating the viral outbreak, which began infecting people in August 2016.
The Wayne County and City of Detroit health departments, as well as the Oakland County Health Division, urged the restaurant workers to avail the vaccine.
Dr. Nicholas Gilpin, the chief medical officer of Beaumont Hospital in Grosse Pointe, describes hepatitis A as more of a nuisance condition and that only 1 percent of the cases typically progress to liver failure. Patients who are infected with the virus usually recover over time.
"In all three of those jurisdictions, which have been most heavily impacted by these ongoing hepatitis outbreaks, the hospitalization rates have all been very high. Something is different and we're trying to figure out what it is. It's going to take a little while," said Jay Fielder, manager for surveillance and infectious disease epidemiology of the MDHHS.
Who Are At High Risk?
People with hepatitis A spread the virus through their feces, which can eventually contaminate food or water. The virus is also transmitted through body fluids, for instance, during sexual intercourse.
Symptoms such as fever, joint pain, loss of appetite, jaundice, and dark urine do not show until after 15 to 50 days from the onset of the disease. This is why it is difficult for health officials to manage the condition when it has progressed to an aggressive stage.
"People can live for decades without symptoms, but over time chronic hepatitis can cause serious health problems," said Dr. Eden Wells, the chief medical executive at MDHHS. "Michigan residents are urged to learn the facts about hepatitis, particularly the steps they should take to protect themselves and how to identify their risk of the disease."
People who use recreational drugs or those who traveled to countries where there is a hepatitis A epidemic have higher risks of contracting the virus. Men who have sexual intercourse with men and those with chronic liver diseases are also at risk, according to the WHO.
