Health Officials Concerned About Possible Hepatitis C at School

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Health Officials Concerned About Possible Hepatitis C at School

Students Suggested To Have Blood ScreeningsFeb 23, 2005 6:17 pm US/EasternNEWARK (AP) Health officials are worried that a sharp object used to stab about 20 students at a school dance could have transmitted the hepatitis C virus.One boy who was stuck at the Warren Hills Regional Middle School in Washington on Feb. 11 has tested positive in an initial screening for the virus, and more tests are pending to confirm the result, Warren County health officer Hawk said.Officials do not believe the boy got the virus from being stabbed at the Valentine’s Day dance. “But the problem is, whoever attacked this student stuck other people. So others could have caught it,” Hawk told The Star-Ledger of Newark in Wednesday’s newspapers.Hawk was not immediately available for comment Wednesday. The state had 415 cases of hepatitis C last year, of which 19 were in Warren County, a decline from the 514 reported statewide, with 23 in Warren County, in 2003, said Sciortino, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services, on Wednesday. She did not have statistics on any fatalities.Health officials and the school notified parents on Friday about the initial finding, and called parents of the students who said they were stuck at the dance to suggest they have blood screenings, principal said.The school believes that more than 20 of the 432 students at the dance may have been stabbed, he said. “Not everybody came forward initially, and more youngsters have come forward since the dance. We need to know how many students were involved,” he said. The person who did the stabbing has not been identified, he said.Sheila Risley, county health educator, said hepatitis C can take two weeks to six months to appear in a person’s blood. Students from Washington Borough, Washington Township, Mansfield and lin attend the school for grades seven and eight. Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by a virus. It can be transmitted when blood or body fluids from an infected person enter the body of a person who is not infected. It causes between 8,000 deaths and 10,000 deaths in the United States each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If left untreated, hepatitis Ccan result in liver damage, which can lead to serious conditions such as liver cancer or cirrhosis.

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