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Sixteen people have died in one of the worst Hepatitis A outbreaks in the United States, health experts said on Tuesday.
Sixteen people have died of the highly contagious virus in San Diego County in the state of California, and hundreds of others have become ill, according to health officials.
They warned that the outbreak could continue for up to six months and spread to more counties in Southern California.
Since the outbreak was identified in early March, there have been 444 confirmed cases with an additional 44 cases considered suspicious, ABC 7 news channel reported Tuesday, while 305 people have been hospitalized for Hepatitis A virus.
In 2015, there were 181 cases in California with just 22 in San Diego County, which declared a public health emergency earlier this month.
Since then, over 22,000 vaccinations have been performed by county health officials so far. Of these, 15,000 people were in a high-risk category, including homeless and drug users, largely in the downtown area.
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer unveiled a media campaign themed "Vaccination, Sanitation & Education" on Tuesday.
In a video clip posted on social media, the mayor pledged to fight the outbreak, saying "this is personal, this is our community, and we will protect it."
Nick Yphantides, San Diego County's chief medical officer, predicted that this outbreak would last longer and would likely have an additional number of further cases.
Hepatitis A, most commonly spread person-to-person through the fecal-oral route, is a infectious disease can sometimes cause liver failure and even death.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles County's Public Health Department also announced the Hepatitis A outbreak and called on people to get vaccinated to prevent the spread of the virus.
Since 2006, children in California have received the Hepatitis A vaccine in accordance with school immunization requirements.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
