Hepatitis A outbreak linked to smoothies spans 5 states; 51 sick

[casper]

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2016/08/hepatitis-a-outbreak-linked-to-smoothies-spans-5-states-51-sick/#.V8eur095GSq
"More than 50 people in five states are confirmed with Hepatitis A infections in an outbreak associated with frozen strawberries from Egypt that were served at Tropical Smoothie Café locations in Virginia.

The vast majority of the infected people — 44 — are Virginia residents, according to the Virginia Department of Health and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There are also four confirmed victims in Maryland and one each in North Carolina, Oregon and Wisconsin, a CDC spokeswoman said Tuesday.
“CDC, FDA and several states are currently investigating an outbreak of foodborne Hepatitis A linked to frozen strawberries in smoothies served in restaurants,” the CDC spokeswoman said.

“While Tropical Smoothie Café has removed the frozen strawberries from their restaurants and switched to another supplier, we may still see more illnesses due to the long incubation period for Hepatitis A before people start experiencing symptoms. At this time, we do not have information to suggest that there is an ongoing risk of hepatitis A virus infection at Tropical Smoothie Cafés.”

That long incubation period, which ranges from 15 to 50 days, is one of the factors that make Hepatitis A outbreaks difficult to investigate, according to state and federal public health officials. Virginia health officials report illness onset dates for the current outbreak range from May through the end of August, but they were not able to connect the dots of their outbreak investigation until early August.

Virginia officials notified the Tropical Smoothie Café chain at that point, but did not alert the public for another two weeks....."



Why they waited for two weeks?

 

[Oxajil]

Why they waited for two weeks?

This is their explanation (from the article you linked to):

An epidemiologist with the Virginia health department said state officials waited because they wanted to gather as much information as possible “to determine with enough scientific certainty what the risk to the public was so we could understand the risk and communicate it accurately.”

“We did not know for sure where the frozen strawberries were distributed, if the risk was associated with one restaurant chain or more general to other potential sources, if it was limited to Virginia or it extended further. We wanted more information to feel confident that the source was strawberries and not other fruits, especially since smoothies contain so many ingredients,” said Diane Woolard, director of the health department’s division of surveillance and investigation.

“It is important to have a high level of confidence in the message and accuracy in the assessment of risk when issuing statewide notices about a single product.”

Woolard said genetic typing data was factored in and evidence continued to point to strawberries that were distributed “to one restaurant chain.” But even with confirmation from CDC on Aug. 12, Virginia officials waited another week before warning the public.

It probably would've been better if they notified the public sooner! Odd that they continued to wait even after receiving confirmation, not that I think the vaccines would help, but at least people could've taken other measures. (Also probably best to avoid smoothies altogether, since they're often full of sugar)