RICHMOND – As area and state public health officials seek to quell an ongoing, months-long epidemic involving hepatitis A, the local tally of reported cases of the virus continues to grow.
Wayne County is ranked No. 3 in the state for the total number of hepatitis A cases since January, with 23 cases reported over the past eight months to the Indiana State Department of Health. When updated figures are released by the state on Friday, that number is likely to grow, it's just not clear by how much.
By comparison, the highest-tally county, Clark, in the southern part of Indiana, has 65 cases; most of the state's 93 counties have fewer than five. More than 280 cases reported statewide since the start of the year; Indiana usually sees about 20 cases each year, according to the state department of health.
Isolated incidents?
Even with the growing number of local cases, little is known about the individuals who have contracted the disease; health laws prevent state and local government agencies from releasing any identifying characteristics of those who have the communicable virus, including age, gender or city of residence. The circumstances by which they came in contact with the virus also have generally remained classified.
Eric Coulter, executive director of the Wayne County Health Dept., said Thursday he is confident there isn't an immediate threat to everyone in the county, and that incidents remain isolated.
"It's somewhat random," he said. "There are ... contributing factors, but if you're looking at whether an outbreak may occur, no, nothing to that extent at all."
Coulter said most cases of hepatitis A in the county have been unlike a singular incident at a local food establishment early in July. He said the July 5 exposure incident at Casey's General Store in Centerville, which stirred something of a public health emergency, was the only reported case in the county involving a food handler.