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American Morning

Paging Dr. Gupta: Hepatitis Outbreak

Aired November 12, 2003 - 08:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The number of people sickened by an outbreak of Hepatitis A at a Mexican restaurant near Pittsburgh is still climbing. Officials in Pennsylvania are confirming at least 300 cases.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us this morning with details.

Sanjay, good morning. Nice to see you always.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

This is the worst outbreak of hepatitis in U.S. history, 300 cases, as you mentioned, five states now, as well being affected. The epicenter of this thing certainly in Pennsylvania, no surprise then, that a larger number of cases there, I believe 259 cases; 31 cases you can see the list in Ohio, 8 in Virginia, one in South Carolina, one in Florida, as far south as Florida. One person has died from this particular outbreak, a 38-year-old named Jeff Cook actually passed away. It is unusual to die from hepatitis A. It can happen in somebody who is previously ill or had previous problems with the liver. He actually ate at this particular restaurant in early October, where this outbreak was believed to have started. He underwent a liver transplant and subsequently passed away.

Now investigators believe that the numbers could actually still increase, 300 now, but this is sort of an investigative thing. They've screened 9,000 people in five days. They've given out 8,000 immune globulin shots to try and ward off this particular outbreak of hepatitis, sort of interesting at this point.

O'BRIEN: Can you back it up for those of us who don't know that much about hepatitis A. What exactly is it? How is it spread? And how do you prevent it?

GUPTA: Right, hepatitis A, first of all, it's a virus. It's a virus that typically causes an inflammation of the liver. There are several different types of hepatitis, hepatitis A, B and C. Hepatitis A is usually the best kind to have if you had to get one of them. It's going to be the least harmful, typically just causes flu-like symptoms. What happens oftentimes is that you actually get this from eating either contaminated food or having poor food worker hygiene at a particular restaurant, people who don't wash their hands after going to the bathroom. At this particular restaurant, for example, it was four people there who work there have hepatitis A. That is where it's believed that this outbreak came from.

Now if flu-like symptoms occur, usually six to nine months, people usually recover. The one case that we're talking about, that's a rare occurrence for someone to die from this.

O'BRIEN: Anyway, for someone to prevent getting hepatitis? I mean, how can you possibly know when you go into a restaurant that the people who are working in the kitchen are sick?

GUPTA: I know. That's a great question. We actually asked that same question. It's often difficult. This is one of the hazards -- this is an unusual situation. It's one of the hazards of eating out in restaurants where people may not be washing their hands. That's why you see a lot of signs up in the rest rooms saying employees must wash their hands. A lot of that is to prevent hepatitis A.

Now if you're concerned about, concerned that you may have been exposed, you can get a shot within two weeks after the exposure called an immune globulin shot, and that is going to ward off hepatitis as well.

O'BRIEN: Sanjay, thanks for the update. Appreciate it.

GUPTA: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired November 12, 2003 - 08:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The number of people sickened by an outbreak of Hepatitis A at a Mexican restaurant near Pittsburgh is still climbing. Officials in Pennsylvania are confirming at least 300 cases.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us this morning with details.

Sanjay, good morning. Nice to see you always.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

This is the worst outbreak of hepatitis in U.S. history, 300 cases, as you mentioned, five states now, as well being affected. The epicenter of this thing certainly in Pennsylvania, no surprise then, that a larger number of cases there, I believe 259 cases; 31 cases you can see the list in Ohio, 8 in Virginia, one in South Carolina, one in Florida, as far south as Florida. One person has died from this particular outbreak, a 38-year-old named Jeff Cook actually passed away. It is unusual to die from hepatitis A. It can happen in somebody who is previously ill or had previous problems with the liver. He actually ate at this particular restaurant in early October, where this outbreak was believed to have started. He underwent a liver transplant and subsequently passed away.

Now investigators believe that the numbers could actually still increase, 300 now, but this is sort of an investigative thing. They've screened 9,000 people in five days. They've given out 8,000 immune globulin shots to try and ward off this particular outbreak of hepatitis, sort of interesting at this point.

O'BRIEN: Can you back it up for those of us who don't know that much about hepatitis A. What exactly is it? How is it spread? And how do you prevent it?

GUPTA: Right, hepatitis A, first of all, it's a virus. It's a virus that typically causes an inflammation of the liver. There are several different types of hepatitis, hepatitis A, B and C. Hepatitis A is usually the best kind to have if you had to get one of them. It's going to be the least harmful, typically just causes flu-like symptoms. What happens oftentimes is that you actually get this from eating either contaminated food or having poor food worker hygiene at a particular restaurant, people who don't wash their hands after going to the bathroom. At this particular restaurant, for example, it was four people there who work there have hepatitis A. That is where it's believed that this outbreak came from.

Now if flu-like symptoms occur, usually six to nine months, people usually recover. The one case that we're talking about, that's a rare occurrence for someone to die from this.

O'BRIEN: Anyway, for someone to prevent getting hepatitis? I mean, how can you possibly know when you go into a restaurant that the people who are working in the kitchen are sick?

GUPTA: I know. That's a great question. We actually asked that same question. It's often difficult. This is one of the hazards -- this is an unusual situation. It's one of the hazards of eating out in restaurants where people may not be washing their hands. That's why you see a lot of signs up in the rest rooms saying employees must wash their hands. A lot of that is to prevent hepatitis A.

Now if you're concerned about, concerned that you may have been exposed, you can get a shot within two weeks after the exposure called an immune globulin shot, and that is going to ward off hepatitis as well.

O'BRIEN: Sanjay, thanks for the update. Appreciate it.

GUPTA: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com