Health officials on Tuesday confirmed the seventeenth death related to San Diego County's ongoing hepatitis A outbreak.
The County of San Diego's Health and Human Services Agency reported 461 cases associated with the outbreak, marking a 40-case increase since Sept 12. The outbreak has caused 315 hospitalizations.
The majority of individuals sickened in the outbreak, which has been under investigation since March, have either been homeless, illicit drug users or both. County health officials declared the outbreak a public health emergency Sept. 1.. Since the declaration, officials have placed portable hand-washing stations in areas with high concentrations of homeless residents. Earlier this month, street cleaning crews also washed the city streets with bleach-spiked water.
Symptoms of hepatitis A infection include abdominal pain, low-grade fever, nausea, fatigue and jaundice. The virus is highly transmissible and is most often spread via contact with fecal matter from an infected individual, which can contaminate food and water.
To learn more about hepatitis A, click here.
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