Cases of Hepatitis A Found at Elementary School

The county Health Care Agency reported three cases of hepatitis A at a San Juan Capistrano elementary school and, in letters sent home to parents Tuesday, recommended injections of immune globulin for the school’s 850 students.

“Everybody is kind of alarmed,” said Debby Lienhop, president of the PTA at Harold Ambuehl Elementary School, where the cases were reported.

She said parents had been told that county health officials would be on campus to administer the injections Thursday and Friday.

“I talked to my pediatrician and he said that they don’t typically give that vaccine,” Lienhop said.

Officials from the school and health agency could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

According to the letter--signed by Dr. Hildy Meyers, the health care agency’s medical director--the disease is caused by a virus found in the feces of infected people and spread through unsanitary toilet or eating habits.

“The infection may be very mild, especially in young children,” Meyers wrote, “or it may be severe, even requiring admission to a hospital. Symptoms usually occur 2 to 6 weeks after the person has been infected.”

The best way to prevent the spread of the disease, the letter went on, is by frequently washing one’s hands and taking the recommended immune globulin.

“It is safe and has been used for many years for temporary protection against hepatitis A,” Meyers said in the letter.