The Ingham County Health Department has inoculated staff and clientele of two local homeless shelters for Hepatitis A. That’s following three cases of Hepatitis A, including one death, in the county.
The Department is declining to identify the two shelters.
The preventable liver disease can spread through contaminated food or water. Risk factors in the Ingham County outbreak include homelessness and transient housing, use of illicit drugs, incarceration, men who have sex with men, and sex workers and their clients.
Along with the innoculations already given, the department recommends the vaccine for workers in high-risk jobs like emergency rooms and food service and sanitation departments.
There has been a large outbreak of Hepatitis A in recent years in southeast Michigan, but so far, officials in Ingham County haven’t directly linked that outbreak with the local cases.
