CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority and the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department will jointly conduct hepatitis A vaccination clinics Thursday and Friday in Charleston
Thursday’s clinic will be held at Orchard Manor and Washington Manor, and Friday’s clinic will take place at Littlepage Terrace and South Park Village. Both clinics will be between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Hepatitis A is a liver infection spread due to people not washing their hands after using the restroom. Symptoms include yellowing of the skin and eyes, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, clay-colored bowel movements, dark urine and joint pain.
According to the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health, more than 200 cases of hepatitis A have been confirmed in Kanawha County, more than 57 percent of all cases statewide.
John Law, the health department’s public information officer, said the state health bureau has purchased an additional $550,000 in vaccines to support local vaccination clinics.
“The Bureau for Public Health saw that there was a hepatitis problem and with the center being Kanawha County,” he said. “But we’re seeing it spread, like, to Cabell County and to other areas in the state.”
The vaccines will be free for people considered at high risk of getting the diseases, which includes people who are homeless, food service workers and individuals who were recently incarcerated.