Ohio and the valley are announcing expanded instances of Hepatitis-A as part of a multi-state flare-up.
The most recent numbers from health department officials show Ohio has had in excess of 2000 affirmed cases, including seven deaths. Trumbull county, which typically has short of what one case for each year, is reporting 15 cases associated with the outbreak, while Mahoning county is reporting 8 cases.
Health officials say the Ohio cases appear in three high risk factors.
” I-V drug use, men having sex with men, and people who are homeless, those are the three high risk areas that they are seeing in the state of Ohio,” according to Sandra Swann, Director of Nursing with the Trumbull County Health District.
Hepatitis A is a vaccine-preventable liver disease that typically spreads when a individual ingests even microscopic amounts of fecal issue from contact food, or drinks contaminated by the stool of an infected person.
Hepatitis A vaccine is recommended for people with one or more of the risk factors mentioned.
The multi-state outbreak includes the neighboring states of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and West Virginia.