Hawai‘i Journal Watch: Highlights of recent research from the University of Hawai‘i and the Hawai‘i State Department of Health

摘要

An epidemiological investigation reveals details about the 2016 hepatitis A outbreak in Hawai?i. The investigation confirmed that scallops imported from a single Philippines distributor by a single restaurant chain were associated with hepatitis A illness and therefore the outbreak’s likely source. Of the 292 confirmed cases, only 2 were pediatric cases. Both were adolescents; one had not recieved the hepatitis A vaccination and the other had not completed the vaccination series. Researchers, including David I. Johnston, MPH, of the Hawai?i State Department of Health, also found that during the outbreak, more than 100,000 hepatitis A vaccinations were administered in Hawai?i, a 3.5-fold increase compared with the same period during 2015. There is a pressing need to invest in global food safety, as well as vaccination campaigns, the researchers wrote. The paper, Public Health Investigation and Response to a Hepatitis A Outbreak from Imported Scallops Consumed Raw—Hawaii, 2016, is published in Epidemiology and Infection.