Another 101 receive hepatitis A shots

Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2005 | 9:57 a.m.

WHAT:

Hepatitis A clinic

WHEN:

8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday

WHERE:

Ravenholt Public Health Center at 625 Shadow Lane, north of Charleston Boulevard.

INFORMATION:

Phone (702) 759-1300, select option No. 5.

The Clark County Health District gave shots to 101 people on Monday to protect them against hepatitis A as officials are trying to reach approximately 1,000 people they believe were exposed to the potentially deadly virus at a convention earlier this month in Las Vegas.

A total of 267 people have received gamma globulin shots and hepatitis A vaccinations since Saturday, said David Tonelli, spokesman for the Health District on Monday.

The shots won't prevent the spread of the virus after Wednesday, health officials said.

Colorado health officials informed the Health District on Thursday that a man who attended the Global Gaming Expo conference with its 26,000 delegates was diagnosed with hepatitis A after returning home. He had served ice cream at the Schwan's Food Service booth, health officials said.

The Health District began trying to contact the estimated 1,000 people who were served ice cream at the conference because the chances to stop further spread of the virus with the preventative shots ends on Wednesday, two weeks after the expo ended, health officials said.

Hepatitis A is a virus that can infect a person for up to 30 days without symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. But a person infected with the virus can spread it before developing symptoms.

The Global Gaming Expo ran from Sept. 13 to Sept. 15. The infected man demonstrated a new ice cream dispenser for the first two days of the conference.

Of the 1,000 people potentially exposed to the virus, between 300 and 400 individuals may have come from Southern Nevada. The rest came from other states and up to 90 foreign countries, according to information from Schwan's provided to the Health District.