Bartholomew County and state health officials have planned several hepatitis A vaccination clinics across the county as they continue their efforts to combat an outbreak of the disease.
On Friday, the Indiana State Department of Health will offer a hepatitis A vaccination clinic from 9 a.m. to noon at Love Chapel Food Pantry, located at 311 Center St. in Columbus.
On Tuesday, state health officials will conduct another clinic from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Bartholomew County Public Library, at 536 Fifth St. in Columbus.
State and county health officials will then team to provide three days of clinics July 9-11 at the Bartholomew County 4-H Fair.
“We’re trying to offer as many opportunities to be able to reach as many people as possible,” said Amanda Organist, director of nursing at the Bartholomew County Health Department.
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.
The series of vaccination clinics come as federal, state and local health officials scramble to contain a major outbreak of hepatitis A that has hit 22 states, including Indiana, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Monday morning, 24 people were vaccinated at a clinic offered by state health officials at the Love Chapel Food Pantry, Organist said.
A total of 2,940 hepatitis A vaccines have been administered in Bartholomew County since Jan. 1, 2018, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
As of Wednesday, Bartholomew County health officials had investigated 58 potential cases of the disease so far this year, but haven’t yet confirmed if all those cases are hepatitis A.
As of June 7, Bartholomew County had 49 confirmed cases of the disease, according to figures from the Bartholomew County Health Department, Organist said. Typically, the county sees one to two cases per year, health officials said.
Indiana has seen 1,642 cases of the disease since the outbreak started in the state in November 2017 — 98 more cases than on June 7 and the sixth most in the country. Before the outbreak, the state had previously averaged about 20 cases of hepatitis A per year, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
So far, four people have died and 834 have been hospitalized in Indiana due to the disease, according to state figures. No deaths in Bartholomew County have been attributed to hepatitis A, Organist said.
Kentucky and Ohio have seen the most cases of any state, accounting for roughly 32 percent of the 20,512 cases of hepatitis A across the country since CDC officials identified the outbreak. A total of 68 people have died from the disease in Kentucky and Ohio.
Currently, Bartholomew County has 487 doses of the vaccine in stock and can order more if needed, Organist said.
“There’s no shortage,” she said. “We’re able to get vaccines the next day if we need it.”
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A list of upcoming hepatitis A vaccination clinics in Bartholomew County:
Friday: 9 a.m. to noon at Love Chapel Food Pantry, 311 Center St., Columbus.
Tuesday: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Bartholomew County Public Library, 536 Fifth St., Columbus. Free hot dogs.
July 9: 5 to 9 p.m. at the Bartholomew County 4-H Fair, 750 W. County Road 200S, at the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department tent.
July 10: noon to 9 p.m. at the Bartholomew County 4-H Fair, 750 W. County Road 200S, at the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department tent.
July 11: 5 to 9 p.m. at the Bartholomew County 4-H Fair, 750 W. County Road 200S, at the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department tent.
The clinics on Friday and Tuesday also include free HIV and hepatitis C screenings.
Call the Bartholomew County Health Department at 812-379-1555, option 1, for more information.
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