Health officials have warned that parishioners who received Holy Communion during Christmas Mass at a church on Long Island may have been exposed to hepatitis A and may need vaccinated as soon as possible. Particularly those who received Communion at the 10.30am and 12pm (local time) masses on December 25, 2010, at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Massapequa Park should get the shots.
The Nassau County Department of Health is offering immune globulin or the hepatitis A vaccine to those potentially exposed to hepatitis A, officials said. The details of the source of contamination was not explained but hey add that the virus can be spread by consuming food or drink that has been handled by an infected person.
Symptoms of the disease appear within 28 days of exposure, with a range of 15 to 50 days, Nassau health officials said. Symptoms may include an abrupt onset of fever, fatigue, poor appetite, nausea, stomach pain, dark-colored urine and jaundice (a yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes). Once symptoms appear, no medication can be used to treat a patient and bed rest is usually all that is needed.
The hepatitis A virus affects the liver and is usually a “self limiting disease” which does not become a chronic infection or chronic liver disease, according to the Centre for Disease prevention and Control.
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