margarita25
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Who was 'patient zero' in California hepatitis outbreak?
http://www.vcstar.com/story/news/20...zero-california-hepatitis-outbreak/786767001/
"In the case of the locals outbreak, the El Cajon patient is considered patient zero because he was homeless and a blood test showed the presence of hepatitis A antibodies, according to the county’s McDonald. Those two facts are enough to make it statistically likely he was infected by one of the 15 or more hepatitis A viral strains that have caused the outbreak.
But no local public health investigator has ever interviewed or traced this first patient’s movements through the community, because they have been unable to find him.
That’s too bad, because outbreak investigations work through a process called “contact tracing” which seek out each person who was in contact with an infectious person. Making contact with first patients early on allows a public health department to more accurately focus their vaccination efforts.
While a name was recorded when the individual was seen in the hospital in late November, Wooten said he was treated and released long before anyone at the county realized that an outbreak was underway in March of this year.
“We have not had the ability to contact the first index case in this outbreak,” Wooten said.
To date, because the man has not been located, his blood has not been able to be analyzed for the same strain of hepatitis that is causing the outbreak.
So, it’s technically possible that “patient zero” was actually infected by a hepatitis A virus with a different genetic fingerprint not directly related to the outbreak cases."
http://www.vcstar.com/story/news/20...zero-california-hepatitis-outbreak/786767001/
"In the case of the locals outbreak, the El Cajon patient is considered patient zero because he was homeless and a blood test showed the presence of hepatitis A antibodies, according to the county’s McDonald. Those two facts are enough to make it statistically likely he was infected by one of the 15 or more hepatitis A viral strains that have caused the outbreak.
But no local public health investigator has ever interviewed or traced this first patient’s movements through the community, because they have been unable to find him.
That’s too bad, because outbreak investigations work through a process called “contact tracing” which seek out each person who was in contact with an infectious person. Making contact with first patients early on allows a public health department to more accurately focus their vaccination efforts.
While a name was recorded when the individual was seen in the hospital in late November, Wooten said he was treated and released long before anyone at the county realized that an outbreak was underway in March of this year.
“We have not had the ability to contact the first index case in this outbreak,” Wooten said.
To date, because the man has not been located, his blood has not been able to be analyzed for the same strain of hepatitis that is causing the outbreak.
So, it’s technically possible that “patient zero” was actually infected by a hepatitis A virus with a different genetic fingerprint not directly related to the outbreak cases."