Hepatitis A kills one in outbreak

PITTSBURGH -- A man hospitalized with complications from a hepatitis A outbreak that has infected more than 185 people died Friday night, hospital officials said.

The man, one of five people hospitalized in the outbreak, died less than a week after Pennsylvania health officials announced cases of the infectious liver disease apparently linked to a Chi-Chi's Restaurant at the Beaver Valley Mall, about 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

Susan Manko, a spokeswoman for University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, declined to release further information about the patient.

State health officials had confirmed more than 185 cases of the infectious liver disease, most from Pennsylvania.

Unlike the more serious variants, hepatitis B and C, which are generally spread by intravenous drug use or risky sexual behaviors, hepatitis A is spread by eating something contaminated with the feces of someone with hepatitis A, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Food-borne outbreaks generally involve fresh vegetables or other uncooked foods handled by a contaminated person, but the disease is relatively rare.

Symptoms of hepatitis A include fever, nausea, diarrhea, jaundice, fatigue, abdominal pain and loss of appetite. The disease usually clears up in about two months.

While the number of cases is at a historic low, outbreaks have occurred throughout the nation. In September, about 280 people in Georgia and Tennessee were sickened by contaminated green onions, including 210 people who ate at restaurants in the Atlanta area.

At least four people remained hospitalized Friday, some in critical condition, according to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

On Friday, Chi-Chi's said it regretted the outbreak and is working with state health officials to pinpoint the cause. The restaurant has remained closed.

Officials do not believe anyone deliberately contaminated food or the restaurant, Health Department spokesman Richard McGarvey said.