Global Courant
An inmate at Men’s Central Jail has tested positive for hepatitis A, prompting Los Angeles County health officials to warn those who were at the facility last month that they may have been exposed to the highly contagious virus.
While prison officials said on Friday there are no other suspected cases, it’s not clear how many people may have been exposed during the viral incubation period from May 13 to Sunday.
While that time frame coincides with a large group tour that included a federal judge, officials from the U.S. Department of Justice and lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union, Sheriff’s Department leaders said they did not believe the visitors had been exposed.
“They have not visited the affected residential area or eaten anything,” said Deputy Sheriff Sergio Aloma.
The residential area involved, Aloma said, was a dormitory in Module 3600 that houses 16 to 20 inmate employees known as trusties. Trustees typically have more freedom of movement than other inmates and visit many locations through facilities during their work.
Sometimes they are involved in preparing and distributing meals to the prison population. Officials are still trying to find out if the detainee handled food during that time and what areas of the prison he worked or visited.
“We are also investigating other residential areas he has been housed in during his stay,” Aloma added.
In the meantime, the county is offering hepatitis A vaccines to anyone in the Men’s Central Jail who may have been exposed, as well as anyone detained there during the two-week incubation period. That time frame, officials said, was based on when the man reported his symptoms on Sunday.
Then, Aloma said, he was transferred to Los Angeles General Medical Center “and then found out he had hepatitis A.”
The man was still in hospital Friday night. It is not clear if he was infected before being put in prison or if he contracted the virus while behind bars.
The confirmed hepatitis A case came as no surprise to Melissa Camacho, a senior staff attorney at the Southern California ACLU who joined the tour last month.
“It’s overcrowded and people are crowded together,” she said.
Those concerns — along with issues such as poor mental health care, inmate abuse and appalling living conditions — have played a role in a trio of long-running lawsuits against the county alleging that inmates are treated so badly that it violates the constitution.
Among the group touring the prisons in May was US District Judge Dean D. Pregerson, dealing with all three cases — one of which is headed for a contempt hearing later this month.
“It is unfortunate that the DOJ, ACLU, district attorney and Judge Pregerson may have been exposed,” Camacho added, “but it is much worse for people who had to live and work there throughout the exposure period.”
Hepatitis A is highly contagious and people can spread it before they feel sick, according to a statement from the LA County Department of Public Health. The virus causes a short-term liver infection and is found in the stool and blood of infected individuals. It is usually transmitted through eating contaminated food or through close contact with someone who is contagious.
Symptoms may include fever, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, dark urine, or jaundice.
Anyone imprisoned in Men’s Central Jail during the exposure period who later develops hepatitis A symptoms should seek medical attention, officials said. There is no specific antiviral therapy for the infection, so officials said vaccinations are the best preventative step.
For people who may have been exposed, free vaccines will be available starting Saturday in Obregon Park and Ted Watkins Memorial Park Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Vaccines will also be available at the Market Street Center in Santa Clarita, but only on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 7 p.m., as that site will be unavailable after June 11.
