County and state health officials completed the final two planned hepatitis A vaccination clinics, concluding a series to combat an outbreak in Bartholomew County.
On Thursday, 24 people were vaccinated at Clarity Testing Clinic, located 1950 Doctor’s Park Dr., Ste. B., and Clarity Pregnancy Clinic, located at 2420 E. Seventh St.
County officials vaccinated more than 1,000 people for the disease during the first half of the year, including 868 people in May, according to public records.
From Nov. 1, 2017 to July 26, 2019, there have been 3,749 hepatitis A vaccines administered in Bartholomew County by state and county health officials — 1,476 more than on May 1, according to state health records.
Hepatitis A is a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable viral liver infection that can cause loss of appetite, nausea, tiredness, fever, stomach pain, brown-colored urine and light-colored stools.
The virus spreads when a person unknowingly ingests the virus from objects, food or drinks contaminated with infected fecal matter. This often happens when an infected person fails to wash his or her hands adequately after using the bathroom or engages in behaviors that increase the risk of infection, the health department said.
There have been at least two confirmed cases of hepatitis A at restaurants in Columbus this year. In May, approximately 700 local restaurant patrons were vaccinated for the disease after a restaurant employee at Mark Pi’s China Gate in the FairOaks Mall and another employee at Amazing Joe’s restaurant, located at 2607 Central Ave., tested positive for the disease.
However, health officials said the people at the highest risk of contracting hepatitis A are illicit drug users, homeless, people who share needles or live in the same household as an infected person or get the disease through sexual contact.
“The homeless and IV drug use is the main thing, not the (restaurants),” said Amanda Organist, director of nursing at the Bartholomew County Health Department, during the Bartholomew County Board of Health’s meeting on Thursday evening.
County health officials have not detected any cases of a restaurant customer contracting hepatitis A from an infected restaurant employee, Organist said.
The risk of transmission from exposed restaurant staff is extremely low, said Greta Sanderson, communications project manager for the state health department, told The Republic in May. “Because hepatitis A is transmitted through a fecal oral route, there is no risk of transmission through exposed employees who are using proper hand hygiene and wearing gloves as required,” she said.
As of July 26, there have been 1,825 confirmed cases of hepatitis A in Indiana — including 52 in Bartholomew County, according to data from the Indiana State Department of Health. Only nine counties in Indiana have seen more cases than Bartholomew County since the outbreak started.
Typically, Indiana sees around 20 cases per year, according to the Indiana State Department of Health, while Bartholomew County typically has one to two cases per year, health officials said.
The outbreak has killed four people in Indiana and resulted in 996 hospitalizations across the state since Nov. 1, 2017, according to state figures. No deaths linked to hepatitis A have been reported in Bartholomew County.
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Visit bartholomew.in.gov/health-department.html for more information about hepatitis A or to get vaccinated.
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