Official insights from Public Health – Seattle & King County staff
UPDATE (08/14/19): The second of two suspected cases of hepatitis A that we had been tracking has been confirmed by laboratory testing. The current number of King County cases linked to the Washington state outbreak among people living homeless or who use drugs is now four. Any further updates to case counts will be online […]
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A King County man in his forties has been hospitalized with a confirmed case of hepatitis A, a highly contagious virus that can cause severe liver disease. The patient has been living without permanent housing and has a history of illicit drug use. Because he has not travelled outside King County during the period […]
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Five locally acquired cases of hepatitis A infection and an additional case that may also have been acquired locally have been reported to Public Health – Seattle & King County since November 2018. These cases add to three other hepatitis A cases reported in July 2018 for a total of nine cases in less than […]
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You have probably heard about the hepatitis A outbreaks occurring around the country. These outbreaks primarily have affected people living homeless or unsheltered, or people who inject drugs. Although conditions that would facilitate a large hepatitis A outbreak exist locally, we have not had an outbreak among persons experiencing homelessness or who use injection drugs […]
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Public Health is currently responding to increases in several infectious diseases in King County that particularly affect people living homeless. These diseases include group A streptococcal infections, Shigella, and a cluster of serious infections transmitted by body lice called Bartonella quintana. We sat down with Dr. Jeff Duchin, Health Officer and Chief of Communicable Disease […]
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Hepatitis A is a liver disease caused by a highly contagious virus. A large outbreak in San Diego, along with outbreaks in Los Angeles and in Salt Lake City has Public Health officials concerned that a hepatitis A outbreak could occur in King County. Dr. Jeff Duchin, King County’s Health Officer, explains who’s at risk […]
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