About 400 Texans are urged to get shots for hepatitis A

Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2005 | 9:59 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Texas health officials say about 400 people from Texas who attended a gambling industry convention earlier this month might have been exposed to hepatitis A and are being urged to get a shots to try to avoid becoming ill with the potentially deadly disease.

The Texas Department of State Health Services said in a news release Tuesday that people who attended the Global Gaming Expo on Sept. 13 or 14 and ate ice cream being passed out at a Schwan's Food Service booth should contact their doctor and get a shot.

From Saturday through Tuesday night, a total of 363 people in Las Vegas have received the preventive treatment from Clark County Health District nurses, officials said.

On Tuesday 82 people received vaccinations and immune globulin shots. The Health District vaccinated 109 people on Monday, not the 101 people first reported, said David Tonelli, a spokesman for the Clark County Health District.

The shot needs to be given with 14 days of exposure to be effective.

Only those who were served ice cream at the Schwan's Food Service booth at the Global Gaming Expo on Sept. 13 or 14 are at risk for exposure, Tonelli said. The individual serving the ice cream is considered the source of exposure, not the ice cream itself, he said.

The hepatitis A clinic will be open again today from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the Ravenholt Public Health Center at 625 Shadow Lane, north of West Charleston Boulevard, Tonelli said. Wednesday is the last day within two weeks of exposure when vaccinations are effective, he said.

A sales representative at the Schwan's booth became sick with hepatitis A after returning home, officials with the Clark County Health District and Minnesota-based Schwan Food Co. said.

Gaming executives, casino representatives and product manufacturers from 50 states and 20 countries attended the expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center, according to conference sponsor, the American Gaming Association.

Schwan and Clark County health officials said Friday that there was no evidence the free ice cream handed out at the expo was tainted.

"It's important to make clear the individual was the exposure, not the product," said Lawrence Sands, community health director for the Health District.

However, Sands said the man, who was not identified, was at the most infectious stage of the illness at the convention.

Schwan's spokesman Mike Gunderson in Marshall, Minn., said the employee, a sales representative from Colorado, did not handle the ice cream.

"The assumption is that he did shake hands with a number of people there," said Gunderson, who added that the unidentified employee followed food booth and product advisories and used a hand sanitizer.

Hepatitis A symptoms include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and abdominal discomfort. Jaundice, or a yellowing of the skin and eyes, may occur.

Sun reporter

Mary Manning and the Associated Press contributed to this story.