Pennsylvania Department of Health officials said Thursday that the total number of confirmed cases in the recent hepatitis A outbreak has risen to 540.
Meanwhile, testing continues at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Officials said blood tests on three of the 540 patients found that the strain of hepatitis A is "very similar" to those in previous outbreaks in Tennessee and Georgia.
Dr. Calvin Johnson, Pennsylvania Secretary of Health, said Wednesday that no secondary cases have been reported. He also said there is no certainty about green onions as the source, but it's "highly suggestive" that they are the culprit, as they were in the Southern outbreaks.
Johnson said investigators are "getting close" to having what they need to pinpoint the exact food item that is responsible for the spread of the virus.
The 540 cases include customers and employees of the Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant at Beaver Valley Mall in Monaca, Beaver County. State health investigators have said there is no evidence to suggest food handlers acted as transmitters of the virus.
People who ate at the Beaver Valley Chi-Chi's are being interviewed via an 18-page questionnaire from the state, Action News reported. Three infected people have died, but Johnson said that rate is below the general mortality for hep A.
Johnson said the outbreak is so widespread because Chi-Chi's does a strong business, and hepatitis A is a virus that spreads quickly.
Anyone who visited the Beaver Valley Chi-Chi's since late September is encouraged to get a shot for hepatitis A. Innoculations will be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday at the Beaver County state health center in Beaver, Pa.
Food and Drug Administration Dr. Bob Brackett told Channel 4 Action News that green onions shipped to the Beaver Valley Chi-Chi's and restaurants linked to outbreaks in other states most likely came from Mexico.
FDA inspectors of Mexican produce look for "a bad practice, whether it's domestically or in Mexico, or it may be just something that the farm or transporter may not realize could be contributing to a health hazard," Brackett said.
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