HAV Discussion: Liver Illness Caused by HAV (Hepatitis A Virus)

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Background:
Hepatitis A virus (HAV) can cause liver inflammation. This is a highly contagious illness and the most common method of transmission of this virus is from the infected persons through fecal-oral route. When an infected person uses the restroom and does not wash their hands thoroughly, undetected amounts of stool can contaminate the food they subsequently handle. This food when ingested by another individual can cause infection. It can also spread from person to person if they are in close contact with the infected individual.
Children under six years of age are usually asymptomatic but infected adults can have symptoms that can last up to 2 months. In 10-15% of the infected adults, the symptoms can last for up to six months. Symptoms include fever, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, joint pain and jaundice (yellowing of eyes and skin). Symptoms can appear 3-4 weeks after exposure and likelihood of symptoms appearing increases with age.
The easiest method of preventing HAV infection is by vaccination. The number of Hepatitis A cases fell after the vaccine was introduced in 1995. Hepatitis A vaccine has been a part of routine childhood immunizations since 2006.
Hepatitis A is of particular concern when Food Service workers are infected or are in contact with someone who is infected. This can result in HAV outbreaks when the infected workers handle food. Recently in Salt lake City, Utah, in response to the ongoing HAV outbreak, the county board of heath amended ” Health regulation #5: Food Sanitation”, requiring all the food workers in an establishment to be vaccinated if even one of them has been in contact with a person who is infected with HAV.
The Prompt: What you need to do.
Read the CDC and Food Safety News articles I provided.
https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hav/afaq.htm (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2018/02/county-requires-hepatitis-a-vaccines-for-some-food-workers/#.Wnx0Hq6nGUk (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Do your own scientific research (Use scientific articles to understand how HAV spreads and who is at risk and the effectiveness of the vaccine- Use at least 1 other scientific article) and cite your references in APA or MLA formats.
Address the following questions in your post. One paragraph per each set of questions (total of 4 paragraphs)
1. What are the different modes of transmission for HAV ? Is the virus similar to an influenza virus (that changes every year). If you are infected with HAV, do you have lifelong immunity ? How long is the vaccine effective ?
2. Is it acceptable for a county health board to mandate HAV vaccination for food service workers in an effort to stem an outbreak ?
3. For those of us who work or choose to work in some capacity in Food Service establishments (cooking or handling or serving food) do we have an ethical or moral responsibility to get vaccinated to prevent an HAV outbreak?
4. Who is responsible to keep out food supply safe and prevent outbreaks ?