Parent Exposes Students To Hepatitis At School Party

A parent who helped pass out ice-cream bowls at a Farmin Elementary School party exposed about 60 students to hepatitis A.

The parent was helping with a Valentine’s Day party at the school on Feb. 13. She did not know she had hepatitis and exposed a group of first- and sixth-grade students.

“This is not that big a deal, not like at a restaurant where you don’t know who has been eating the food. We have contacted all those who have been exposed,” said Brenda Swenson, a Panhandle Health District nurse. “I feel like we have it contained.”

Swenson declined to release many details because nearly all the students exposed have received hepatitis vaccinations.

No students have tested positive for hepatitis A, Swenson said. In fact, during the hepatitis outbreak in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene the past two months, only two cases have been reported in Bonner County.

At least 10 restaurants have organized vaccinations for their workers.

By the end of the week, 15 local eateries will have vaccinated employees.

It’s unclear how the parent helper contracted hepatitis.

Health officials are notified of any positive hepatitis A results. The parent was called to find out where she had gone and whom she had come in contact with. That’s how health officials discovered the virus could have been spread at Farmin school.

“The parents have been real cooperative in working through it. We are dealing with it and taking any precautions we can,” Farmin Principal John Wall said.

To reduce any health risks, the school has stopped letting student helpers serve food. Only teachers will be allowed to handle food in the classrooms; they already typically wear latex gloves, Wall said.

Health officials recommend food handlers and day-care workers be vaccinated against hepatitis A. The first shot gives protection within two to four weeks. A booster shot can give immunity from hepatitis for at least 10 years, Swenson said.

The vaccine is effective in preventing people from contracting the virus or transmitting it, but it does not protect people already exposed. It can, however, reduce the severity of the illness, health officials said.

Hepatitis can be transmitted by fecal-oral contact. Typical symptoms include general aches and pains, nausea, fever and jaundice.

Thorough hand-washing, especially after using the bathroom, can help prevent the spread of the virus.

, DataTimes