POLK TO STEP UP HEPATITIS A BATTLE

Staff Seeks To Push Free Vaccinations

BARTOW - The Polk County Health Department wants more help in its battle
against hepatitis A.

The department hopes within two weeks to begin sending staff members and
others into areas at high risk for hepatitis A to encourage drug users to
come to clinics for free vaccinations. The department wants the state to help.

Daniel Haight, director of the county health department, said he has asked
the state Department of Health to lend him about three staff members
trained to go into neighborhoods with high drug use. The vaccination is
confidential, he said.

"Drugs cause paranoia," Haight said. "How do we get to that particular
group? It's going to be a long-term problem until we can reach the higher
risk group."

Haight said his department will work with the state Department of Children
and Families to encourage relatives of drug users to get them to seek help
for their addictions and get the vaccine. "We're working on a number of
strategies to get the information out to these communities."

Haight said he hopes to get one or two new employees for his department,
which has about 15 full- and part-time employees working primarily on the
hepatitis A program.

Haight announced his plans Tuesday, the same day he reported that eight
more hepatitis A cases were confirmed during the week ending Saturday,
bringing Polk's total for the year to 160, compared with 163 cases reported
in all of 2001. The county initially reported it had 153 cases last year,
but it recently revised the figure.

The eight new cases involved one person who became ill in March, four
people who reported symptoms in the second half of April and three people
who reported symptoms in early May.

None of the new cases poses a risk to the public, Haight said.

"The pattern remained the same," he said. "One, they were either
methamphetamine users; two, have known somebody that used methamphetamines;
or three, have a known previous case of hepatitis A living in the household."

The hepatitis A outbreak in Polk appears to be slowing, Haight said. There
were 32 cases reported in January, 37 in February, 57 in March, 31 in April
and three in May so far. But there is a lag time, he said. The incubation
period for the disease can be from one month to 55 days.

The health department and other community agencies last week gave 182
hepatitis A vaccines to high-risk people in Polk, including 146 vaccines
given to jail inmates with a history of drug use, Haight said. Some
vaccines also were given at drug treatment centers.

Most of Polk's cases were linked to illegal drug users and people who have
close contact with them. The disease can be spread through shared needles,
through sex or if infected food handlers fail to wash their hands after
using a restroom.