 |
It's a 'Burgh
|
 |
|
| Send FReepmail if you want on/off BPT list | |
| FR Pittsburgh-related posts | |
| Learn Pittsburghese! | |
"Mudslide" indeed.
Posted on 11/14/2003 5:40:22 PM PST by Calpernia
PITTSBURGH - A third person died Friday and nearly 500 others who ate at a Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant have fallen ill in the biggest known outbreak of hepatitis A in U.S. history, making people so scared they are lining up by the thousands for vaccinations and no longer eating out.
Health investigators are focusing on whether contaminated produce — perhaps scallions — caused the outbreak at the restaurant in the Beaver Valley Mall, about 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.
"We're very concerned. It's very serious and we've sent a team of people out there to assist," said David Daigle, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites).
Health officials Friday met with worried shoppers at the mall to try to squelch rumors that the virus was spreading out of control to other restaurants in the region. State Rep. Mike Veon attended a news conference at the mall and ate a sandwich he bought there.
Officials at the mall said sales at the food court were off by as much as 40 percent and sales throughout the mall were down up to 25 percent.
"I won't go to Chi-Chi's again," Barbara Barrickman said as she shopped at the mall. "I know that's unfair, but that's just how I feel."
At least 490 people have been sickened in the outbreak — believed to be the largest on record in the United States, Daigle said.
The Chi-Chi's has been shut down and the restaurant chain removed scallions from kitchens at all its 100 locations, said Bill Zavertnik, chief operating officer of the Louisville, Ky.-based company.
In September, about 280 people in Georgia and Tennessee were infected with hepatitis A from contaminated scallions, or green onions, including 210 people who ate at restaurants in the Atlanta area. The infections were linked to 12 restaurants — none of them Chi-Chi's.
"We've taken the action to remove them based on our abundance of caution with regard to green onions," Zavertnik said. "There's no definitive information that green onions played a role. However, we don't know. Authorities are looking at them."
If the source of the outbreak was food shipped into the restaurant, there is a chance that tainted food could have been sent to other places as well, state Health Secretary Calvin Johnson said.
Between 125,000 to 200,000 people each year contract hepatitis A, an infection that attacks the liver. It can be spread by an infected person who does not wash his hands before handling food or utensils. It can also be spread on uncooked foods, such as salads.
Symptoms include fever, nausea, diarrhea, jaundice, fatigue, abdominal pain and loss of appetite. Hepatitis A usually clears up in about two months, but patients can get antibody shots that greatly reduce the chances of contracting the disease if given within 14 days after exposure.
About 8,500 people have been inoculated at a gymnasium near the restaurant and at surrounding health centers since the cases began appearing at the start of the month.
Health officials initially suspected Chi-Chi's employees who had failed to wash their hands were the source of the infection. Investigators are now focusing on food, but have not ruled anything out.
Infectious-disease experts say finding the source could be challenging because hepatitis A has a long incubation period, meaning the virus could spread to many places before it is detected. Pennsylvania health officials began warning the public Nov. 3.
The most recent victim, John Spratt, 46, of Aliquippa, died Friday from complications of hepatitis A, according to the Allegheny County Coroner. It was the second death in three days connected to the outbreak.
Dineen Wieczorek, 52, died in a Cleveland hospital Wednesday while awaiting a liver transplant, said her daughter, Darleen Trunzo. Jeff Cook, 38, died on Nov. 7 of liver failure in a Pittsburgh hospital.
All three ate at the Chi-Chi's in October, according to family members. Eleven restaurant employees have been diagnosed with hepatitis A.
Posted by yonif On 06/26/2003 2:37 PM EDT with 1 comment
Jerusalem Post ^ | Jun. 26, 2003 | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS More than 100 people have been hospitalized in the past two days with symptoms of hepatitis A after drinking contaminated water in an eastern Ukrainian town, bringing the total number affected by the outbreak above 400, officials said Tuesday. Hepatitis A is a highly infectious liver disease typically contracted by eating or drinking food or fluids contaminated by traces of fecal material. Symptoms include fatigue, fever, nausea and jaundice. Israel has born the brunt of recent scathing Amnesty International reports and was placed on a US State Department's black list, a double punch which inaugurated the fight against trafficking. "The...
Chi-Chi's Hepatitis outbreak claims first fatality
Posted by Rightproud On 11/08/2003 9:42 AM EST with 14 comments
WTAE Television ^ | 11/08/2003 | Staff Writer A 38-year-old Aliquippa man infected with hepatitis A died last night at UPMC Presbyterian -- the first fatality stemming from an outbreak that has been traced to a Beaver County restaurant. The death came as the number of reported cases rose to 185, and state officials worked to prevent those who have been sickened from inadvertently causing future outbreaks.
A second death - (Hepatitis) Outbreak now largest linked to a restaurant in U.S. history
Posted by FairOpinion On 11/14/2003 12:01 PM EST with 89 comments
Beaver County Times ^ | Nov. 14, 2003 | Bill Vidonic The hepatitis A outbreak linked to the Chi-Chi's restaurant in the Beaver Valley Mall has claimed a second life, as the number of confirmed cases continues to skyrocket. Dineen Wieczorek, 51, of Hopewell Township died Wednesday evening in the Cleveland Clinic of complications from the hepatitis A virus, her husband, Walter, said Wednesday. "It's a complete shock," Walter Wieczorek said. "It just all happened so fast." In addition to Wieczorek's death, the state Department of Health said it now has identified 410 people with hepatitis A linked to the Center Township restaurant, making it the biggest outbreak linked to a...
RELATED STORIES
|
It's a 'Burgh
|
| |
|
| Send FReepmail if you want on/off BPT list | |
| FR Pittsburgh-related posts | |
| Learn Pittsburghese! | |
"Mudslide" indeed.
Some of the Japan vegetable growers now have their own people in China to make sure anything exported to Japan isn't contaminated. It is not racist, just fact that many people in the third world have immunities to parasites and contamination which those in the first world do not.
Or the jury could just award the families $2.4 million each in Chi-Chi's gift certificates.
Far more likely to be vindictive and/or lazy 16-year-olds who are only working because their parents are making them.
Far more likely than that is that the onions were simply contaminated somewhere along the line before delivery and that nobody at the restaurant itself had any idea.
"Far more likely to be vindictive and/or lazy 16-year-olds who are only working because their parents are making them. Far more likely than that is that the onions were simply contaminated somewhere along the line before delivery and that nobody at the restaurant itself had any idea."
How can anybody know what method of transmission is "more likely" than any other at this point?
Nebraska Revokes License of Doctor in Hepatitis Outbreak [Pakistani questioned by FBI]
Posted by jpthomas On 10/01/2003 9:49 PM EDT with 8 comments
Associated Press ^ | October 1, 2003 | unknown LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The state revoked the license Wednesday of a doctor accused of causing one of the nation's largest hepatitis C outbreaks, with at least 99 patients infected and one death. In a settlement with the state, Dr. Tahir Javed did not contest allegations that he used unsanitary practices at his Fremont Cancer Clinic, where many of his patients contracted hepatitis C in 2000 and 2001. State officials alleged those practices included reusing syringes. At least 81 lawsuits have been filed against Javed on behalf of his former patients. Javed is now a health minister in Pakistan. Last...
Probably the migrant workers in the fields. Some have no sanitation facilities in the fields. Who knows if they'll ever find out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.