Hepatitis A Cases Among Food Handlers: A Local Health Department Response—New York City, 2013

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Public Health Manag Pract
• Personal Author:
  Ridpath, Alison ; Reddy, Vasudha ; Layton, Marcelle ; Misener, Mark ; Scaccia, Allison ; Starr, David ; Stavinsky, Faina ; Varma, Jay K. ; Waechter, HaeNa ; Zucker, Jane R. ; Balter, Sharon
• Description:
  During 2013, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) received reports of 6 hepatitis A cases among food handlers. We describe our decision-making process for public notification, type of postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) offered, and lessons learned. For 3 cases, public notification was issued and DOHMH offered only hepatitis A vaccine as PEP. Subsequent outbreaks resulted from 1 case for which no public notification was issued or PEP offered, and 1 for which public notification was issued and PEP was offered too late. DOHMH continues to use environmental assessments to guide public notification decisions and offer only hepatitis A vaccine as PEP after public notification but recognizes the need to evaluate each situation individually. The PEP strategy employed by DOHMH should be considered because hepatitis A vaccine is immunogenic in all age groups, can be obtained by local jurisdictions more quickly, and is logistically easier to administer in mass clinics than immunoglobulin.
• Subjects:
  Article Decision Making Disease Outbreaks Food Handlers Food Services Hepatitis A Hepatitis A Vaccines Humans Local Government New York City Outbreak Post-Exposure Prophylaxis Public Health Workforce

  More +
• Source:
  J Public Health Manag Pract. 23(6):571-576
• Pubmed ID:
  28166179
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC6951794
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHS/United States ; U50 CI000899/CI/NCPDCID CDC HHS/United States ; U90 TP000546/TP/OPHPR CDC HHS/United States
• Volume:
  23
• Issue:
  6
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:e97d31ba1965715887ab9e7f185a8a397ef8aff3fd0760b5432d4fc34fb501fe
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/84120/cdc_84120_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 244.50 KB ]