Countywide : Hepatitis Outbreak Grows Despite Work Restrictions

An outbreak of hepatitis A among developmentally disabled people and those who work with them has grown to 28 cases, twice the number that prompted county health officials to issue work restrictions affecting hundreds of disabled workers last month.

The reported cases include two staff members who work in programs for the disabled, said Dr. Hildy Meyers, an epidemiologist with the Orange County Health Care Agency.

On March 24, after 14 cases were confirmed, health officials issued countywide work restrictions ordering certain disabled workers removed from their jobs until they could prove themselves immune to the disease. The restrictions affected as many as 300 people who had recent contact with others in community facilities for the disabled and who worked as food handlers or as caretakers for children and the elderly.

Advocates for the disabled protested that the restrictions were too broad and filed a court petition to block their implementation.

Last week, the petition was dropped after health officials agreed to narrow their order to cover disabled workers in eight cities only: Anaheim, Brea, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Orange, Placentia, Santa Ana and Yorba Linda. Also, developmentally disabled workers may, on an individual basis, ask the county to make exceptions.

Meyers said about 110 developmentally disabled workers were vaccinated at special clinics last week and as many as 90 could be vaccinated at a clinic in Orange today.

Since the outbreak, Meyers said, about 500 people who may have been exposed to the virus have received gamma globulin injections. Gamma globulin, which is not a vaccine, can prevent the onset of symptoms in someone who is exposed.