Liberal Haven San Diego Declares State of Emergency Over Hepatitis A Outbreak (People shitting in the streets) 574 hepatitis A cases, 20 dead

The Board of Supervisors Thursday scheduled a special meeting next week to extend a state of emergency over a deadly outbreak of hepatitis A in San Diego County.

The board is required to renew emergency declarations every two weeks, but its next regularly scheduled meeting isn’t until Jan. 9.

County health officials recently reported 574 hepatitis A cases linked to the outbreak, the start of which was traced back to November 2016. The current rate of infections is far below where it had been, though.

Of those sickened by the disease, which attacks the liver, 20 have died, but none recently.

Hepatitis A usually is transmitted by touching objects or eating food that someone with the virus has handled or by having sex with an infected person.

The disease doesn’t always cause symptoms but can cause fever, fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, [link to timesofsandiego.com (secure)]