California’s hepatitis A outbreak has claimed 19 lives in San Diego, as of Tuesday.
The number of cases in the city has surged past 500, according to the San Diego county Health and Human Services weekly tally.
This week’s updated death toll comes after California Governor Jerry Brown declared the outbreak a state-wide emergency on Friday.
The outbreak, which was first detected in the spring, has spread to several other areas of the state, including Los Angeles and Santa Cruz.
Local health officials are racing to contain the disease, which has been spreading rapidly through homeless populations living in unsanitary conditions, as well as drug-users and health workers who have come into close contact with infected people.
San Diego health officials have been encouraging residents, particularly among the homeless population to get vaccinated and keep their hands clean to try to contain the hepatitis A outbreak sweeping the state
Tracking the outbreak’s numbers throughout California has proved difficult. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) last updated its data on October 6, but the Los Angeles Times reports higher numbers of cases in each city than the CDPH.
According to the Times, there are now 71 cases of hepatitis A in Santa Cruz county, 13 cases in Los Angeles, and 17 cases elsewhere. So far, this is the second worst outbreak in the country in 20 years.
San Diego and Los Angeles have both stepped up their sanitation and vaccination efforts in order to try to slow the disease’s spread.
The cities have installed hand washing stations in areas where their homeless populations often sleep, bleached the streets and launched mobile vaccination campaigns.
The viral liver infection is highly contagious, and usually spread to people from contaminated food. In California, the unclean conditions of areas where highly-populated by homeless people have led to transmission from person to person.
More than 100 portable hand washing stations and bathrooms have been installed in San Diego to try to stop the spread of hepatitis A which has claimed 19 lives in the city
In spite of the state’s efforts to control the outbreak, an official from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said earlier this month that the end may be far from sight.
There were 10 new cases confirmed over the course of last week, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Even as new cases of hepatits A roll in, the San Diego county public health officer, Dr Wilma Wooten that the city is seeing fewer new cases than it has over the past several months, the Union-Tribune reported.
The governor’s declaration of a state of emergency will allow California to order more hepatitis A vaccinations from the CDC.
San Diego alone has reportedly already administered 68,500 vaccinations and stretched its supply thin.