San Diego County supervisors ratify hepatitis A emergency declaration

James R. Riffel

Special to Village News

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously ratified a declaration of a public health emergency in San Diego County Sept. 6 related to an outbreak of hepatitis A that has sickened nearly 400 people, 15 fatally.

The emergency was declared by the county’s public health officer, Dr. Wilma Wooten, to gain further public awareness of the problem.

In a presentation to the supervisors, Wooten said about two-thirds of the cases have been among people who were homeless or illicit drug users. Laboratory testing traced the first cases to November 2016, an...