Question: I am wondering how many of the 291 people who got hep A actually ate the scallops and how many got it from contact. Is there any reporting on that?
Answer: Not publicly. Kokua Line asked the state Department of Health for data to illuminate health officials’ statements that most cases involved people who had eaten raw scallops at Genki Sushi restaurants and that very few resulted from secondary contact.
However, the department declined to provide specifics.
“Unfortunately, we cannot provide exact numbers because the investigation is ongoing. However, we can confirm that the overwhelming majority ate at Genki, and the overwhelming majority of those who ate at Genki Sushi had consumed scallops at Genki. Only a small percentage have been secondary cases, and all secondary cases have been close contacts or family,” said Jonathan Hilts, a public health educator and information specialist in the Disease Outbreak Control Division.
The Health Department investigates all cases of hepatitis A reported by health care providers. It follows up with patients to try to determine the source of the infection, limit the spread of the contagious liver disease and protect the public health.
Given that this outbreak began in June, that the likely source was identified in August and that the number of new cases is waning, Kokua Line asked Hilts for details beyond the total number of cases, which the department does publicly release and update.
We sought subtallies such as number of patients (within the total) who said they ate raw scallops at Genki Sushi; number who said they did not eat raw scallops at Genki Sushi; number who could not be located to interview, declined to be interviewed or couldn’t recall what they had eaten or who otherwise fell in the “undetermined” category.
We also offered to report the data however Hilts could provide it — assuming that the potential subcategories we offered were not optimal — but he declined, saying that “we really are not able to provide a more precise breakdown of cases while the investigation is ongoing.”
He said he was not certain whether a precise breakdown would ever be released to the public.
According to the Health Department’s website, no new cases of hepatitis A were identified last week, leaving the statewide total at 291. Of those, 73 required hospitalization. The onset of illness ranged from June 12 to Oct. 9.
Genki Sushi restaurants reopened in September, less than a month after being closed for disinfection once the Health Department identified scallops imported frozen from the Philippines and served raw at the chain’s restaurants on Oahu and Kauai as the likely source of the outbreak.
The 50-day maximum incubation period from the date the scallops were taken off the market has passed, but the Health Department continues to be alert for people who delayed going to the doctor when they first became ill, as well as for possible secondary cases. “Secondary cases have been rare in this outbreak and have been limited to household members of cases or close contacts of cases,” the department’s website states.
You are not the only reader who has asked that specific numbers be assigned to descriptions such as “rare,” “overwhelming majority” and “small percentage.” We’ll continue to follow up with the Health Department about releasing that information.
Mahalo
Mahalo to all the helpful people who often lend a hand or an arm to a senior citizen, and to the kind people who open the door so that I can enter. Mahalo also to the business establishments that have a handicap push button to help me enter your establishment. — A reader
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
