OLYMPIA, Wash. — State officials have declared an outbreak of hepatitis A in people who are living without shelter or who use illicit drugs.
Washington state Department of Health officials said Tuesday they have confirmed 13 cases of the virus, with nine of those in Spokane County, one in neighboring Pend Oreille County, two in Seattle's King County and one in Snohomish County.
Just one month ago, there were three cases of Hepatitis A cases. Since then, that number has tripled and it has local health agencies on high alert.
"The hospitalization rate has been quite high, the majority of those individuals have been hospitalized, so they've been quite sick," said Anna Halloran, an Epidemiologist with Spokane Regional Health District.
Hepatitis A is a very contagious liver infection caused by the hepatitis A virus. It can range from mild with no symptoms to a severe illness lasting months that can result in liver failure and death.
Eight of the nine people who tested positive for Hepatitis A in Spokane County were hospitalized and all of them are homeless. Halloran says it's still spreading because many in this population don't have access to sanitation.
"The fact that access to that is not ideal, that could be one of the reasons why this outbreak is spreading," she said.
Last month, council member Kate Burke told us about her proposal to add more public restrooms.
"I believe that we need more facilities for people to wash their hands and body to make sure our community health overall is up," Burke said.
In an email to KREM 2 this week, she said no action has been taken to add more sanitation facilities.
"It is not surprising to me that Hepatitis A is still on the rise. We, the City of Spokane are still not doing enough to mitigate the root causes of this very preventable disease," Burke said.
"In order to protect the health of our community we need to make sanitation facilities and overall health services a priority. No action has been taken by our city's administration - this is poor governing for our most vulnerable constituents," she continued.
Halloran said there are conversations with city happening right now to add more places for people experiencing homelessness to wash their hands.
A city spokesperson said they paid to have hand washing stations at shelters and places where food is served with their community partners.
"It's really important to remember that access to sanitation is a human right and we need to be doing better to take care of our most vulnerable population," Halloran said.
The health department is also working with shelters, and organization who serve food to make sure there are hand washing stations available.
Hepatitis A is preventable and treatable, Halloran said the most effective way to prevent hepatitis A is vaccination. Officials are working with local health officials on prevention and response efforts.
All nine of the infected patients in Spokane did not have the vaccine, which is a trend they're seeing more of in older generations. The vaccine wasn't widely recommended until the early 2000's.
"So we have a group of individuals in their 30's, 40's, 50's who did not receive the vaccine routinely as children and are susceptible," Halloran said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.