Fullerton : Outbreak of Hepatitis Investigated at Motel

A minor outbreak of hepatitis among residents of a Fullerton motel was being investigated Friday by county health officials.

One case of the disease, which involves an inflammation of the liver, was confirmed, and there were possibly nine more suspected cases within families living at the Ambassador Inn on West Commonwealth Avenue, according to Dr. Tom Prendergast, chief of epidemiology for the county.

Prendergast said nurses were on hand Friday to provide gamma globulin treatments to residents who needed them on the basis of exposure to the highly contagious illness. Blood tests were also being conducted to establish whether anyone else living at the 233-unit motel had contracted the disease. Results of the tests will not be available until next week, Prendergast said.

Children can be primary transmitters of hepatitis, but adults are more seriously affected by the illness, whose symptoms include fever, diarrhea and vomiting.

Officials at Valencia Park Elementary School, which children from the motel attend, sent notices to all pupils’ parents advising them of the possible outbreak and proper hygiene to curtail its spread.

Noting that hepatitis is not a rare disease and that his office handles 350 to 500 reported cases a year, Prendergast said the number of cases in this situation was not unusually large.

“We’ve heard about more cases here quicker because all of these people are together in one place,” he said. “It’s really no different from a neighborhood or an apartment complex where a lot of children play together.