California’s deadly hepatitis A outbreak could last years, official says

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-hepatitis-outbreaks-20171006-htmlstory.html

by Mz • 9 years ago

35 48 9 years ago

bertolo19882• 9 years ago

The current version of hepatitis A grants immunity for life after the second dose. Those 2 doses are exactly the same and it was thought that they should be taken 6 months to 2 years after each other. A recent study says that the second dose could still grant immunity for life even if it is taken 5 years after the first dose. It is a super effective vaccine!

They also last for a very long time in a normal fridge.

Why isn't it included in normal vaccination plans? It looks like there is something controlling the supply and we are paying with human lives all over the world.

tome• 9 years ago

The current version of hepatitis A grants immunity for life

"The current version of hepatitis A vaccine", presumably.

userbinator• 9 years ago

The disease itself too, once you recover from it. That's how vaccinations and the immune system work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A

"After a single infection, a person is immune for the rest of his or her life.[8]"

bertolo19882• 9 years ago

I wanted to say vaccine! Sorry.

Filligree3• 9 years ago

I don't know if this is still the case, but back when I grew up the answer was that it was made from live virus, so there was a (tiny) chance of getting the actual disease if you got it.

Therefore it was only given to populations already at risk of infection, e.g. nurses.

Xylakant3• 9 years ago

I’m not a nurse and I have both Hep A and B vaccinations. At least in Germany you can get if you ask for it.

protomyth• 9 years ago

I remember the same. Our Early Childhood staff got the vaccine unless they had a liver (could be kidney, it has been 20 years) problem. Office staff were not given the vaccine because there was a risk. Things, obviously, could have changed.

tryingagainbro4• 9 years ago

>the second dose could still grant immunity for life even if it is taken 5 years after the first dose. It is a super effective vaccine!

Why shouldn't USA--as in the FedGov--make such vaccines 100% free for everyone, a child or a 55 year old? An ounce of prevention and all....maybe subsidize them, pay cost only.

Personally I went to a private clinic and paid for them, but it was hundreds and hundreds. Not everyone can afford them and when you 80 million (or whatever) vaccines, the price can come down.

zghst8• 9 years ago

Usually children are heavily vaccinated, not adults. However, the costs of vaccines are usually covered by insurance. Additionally the federal gov't provides a program called CHIP that ensures millions of children (8.9 million kids covered 2016) in lower income households receive proper immunization.

maxerickson4• 9 years ago

A significant portion of the country is ideologically opposed to the price fixing implied there. And not just people that identify as Republicans.

thinkcontext3• 9 years ago

Hep A is on the ACA list of vaccines required to be covered w/o a co-pay, why did you have to pay?

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/adults/find-pay-vaccines.html

maxlybbert2• 9 years ago

It's a relatively new vaccine (from the late '90s) and, in the US, the main reason people get vaccinated is to attend school, so anyone who was able to attend school before the late '90s wouldn't have been vaccinated without going out of their way (perhaps for international travel, which is why I was vaccinated -- in the late '90s).

Additionally, hepatitis outbreaks are associated with sanitation problems. Chicken pox, measles, mumps, etc. are associated with putting many people close together, like in a school, so it took a while to add hepatitis to vaccination schedules.

It's also true that many people believe the vaccination wouldn't be necessary if we could just get people to pay attention to sanitation, so there is some opposition along the lines of "if we require this vaccine, we're admitting defeat as far as a clean society is concerned."

thinkcontext3• 9 years ago

Hep A vaccine is required in less than half of states to attend school, CA not being one.

http://www.immunize.org/laws/hepa.asp

Xeoncross• 9 years ago

The current version of hepatitis A [vaccine] grants immunity for life after the second dose.

Wait, this makes it sound fool-proof. I know it's supposed to do this, but how successful is this vaccine at actually doing this for __% of the population?

Xylakant3• 9 years ago

95% for at least 15 years, jo numbers given on lifelong immunity

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A_vaccine

rabboRubble• 9 years ago

40+ F here... a couple of years ago I got "serious" about my health. I had been generally healthy and slacking for the last decades. I made sure all my vaccinations were up to date. Out of all medical related tasks, getting the HEPA/B vaccines were the biggest fight.

I had to argue with my primary care doctor for them. I also had to fight the insurance company for them. The primary care doctor relented after I stated "these vaccines are on the CDC recommended list of vaccines for all healthy adults over the age of X. I do not understand why you are rejecting the idea. It seems contrary to good public health policy." She put in the request uncertain if the insurance company would authorize but I got the first shot so I assumed the troubles were over. Wrong...

Come time to get the 2nd shot of 3 (I think the combined A/B vaccine is a 3 part shot IDK), the care team tells me "we are not sure if we can give you the 2nd shot because the insurance provider rejected the first shot request". Why they didn't tell me right away, no idea. So we danced around for a while, and I finally asked how much the entire series of shots were. They didn't know. Is is $100 or $1000? I tell them if it's $100 I'll just pay for it myself, far cheaper than hospitalization. I guess after some embarrassment on their part, I get the 2nd shot without paying and don't hear about the problems between the doctor office and the insurance company again. I ask before the 3rd shot if the issues got cleared and I heard nothing. Haven't been billed either so I am assuming all is well.

Sooooooo.... while homeless population increases, publicly accessible toilets and sinks disappear, plastic shopping bags are outlawed, my by experience doctors and insurance companies have been dissuading people from getting vaccine protections. We are surprised a dirty unsanitary society with a shitty healthcare system has disease outbreaks? I am not, not at all. It's why I fought so hard for the vaccinations. I would get the a HEPc vaccine if there was one available.

toomuchtodo• 9 years ago

Thank you for doing your part!

BlakePetersen• 9 years ago

Not one mention of the plastic bag ban which many experts argue precipitated this whole mess. Great journalism.

herbst• 9 years ago

Do you have a context for that? Just curious

stefantalpalaru• 9 years ago

https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/sep/08/stringers-pl...

45h34jh53k4j• 9 years ago

Fairly well documented in the CA media:

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/hepatitis-crisis/sd...

https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/sep/08/stringers-pl...

zghst8• 9 years ago

Very intriguing byproduct of the ban, however it is far from being the instigator of this crisis.

pc86• 9 years ago

Feel free to cite one or more experts, since there's a cite below (from someone investigating this outbreak!) stating that the bag ban had nothing to do with this.

Mz• 9 years ago

There are people suggesting that it is a contributing factor. I am one of the people suggesting that. I do not know of any reliable sources saying it is the sole cause.

The link below to the San Diego Reader is the most strongly worded piece I have seen which makes such a claim. It starts with:

“The plastic bag ban is the main reason for the hepatitis outbreak,” says the homeless man who writes the Homeless Survival Guide. “The hepatitis outbreak was completely predictable — it's why I left San Diego.”

I am the author of the San Diego Homeless Survival Guide. The reporter interviewed me via email. I was misgendered and every quote from me in the piece is entirely fabricated. I wrote a piece addressing that and giving some actual quotes from the email interview:

http://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/2017/09/fo...

I then wrote a follow up piece in which I suggested that the record rains from last winter may have also been a factor and may not be going away:

http://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/2017/09/ps...

I have been interviewed by two other reporters about the epidemic. I was homeless in San Diego County for over three years. I left the county before the bag ban was instituted and the epidemic occurred. I was in the Central Valley at that time and still homeless. Last month, I left California and got back into housing.

I was at one time pursuing an environmental studies degree. I am a certified life and health insurance specialist and processed accident claims for over five years. I also have a deadly medical condition. So, I don't think I am completely clueless, but the reason I have been interviewed about the epidemic three times is that I am the author of the San Diego Homeless Survival Guide.

If you know of actual medical or epidemiological experts or similar who claim this, I would like to see your source. If your source is the San Diego Reader, nothing in that article should be trusted.

wu_tang_chris• 9 years ago

If it's a state wide plastic bag ban causing this, why is it happening disproportionally in San Diego? That part doesn't make sense to me.

California’s deadly hepatitis A outbreak could last years, official says

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