Hepatitis A Case Study

The purpose of this paper was to evaluate a response, to a health event in an urban area, then adapt the response into a plan for a rural area. The evaluation was done on the Hepatitis A outbreak, in San Diego, so that the adapted response plan for Red Bluff could be developed. The health event, Hepatitis A, started as one case and is now an epidemic. San Diego did not have a plan developed, for their most vulnerable group; a homeless population, who has little or no access to washrooms, making it impossible to wash their hands on a regular basis; the primary premise in most communicable disease preventions programs. This vulnerability had drawn and kept the viral Hepatitis infection within the homeless population, spreading to two other

states and three other counties. Red Bluff is now within driving distance, and must act now to keep the infection from narrowing in on their own community. The adapted response entailed a thorough inventory of the towns demographics, and marginalized populations so that the barriers to proper hygiene and vaccinations could be conquered, thus keeping the community healthy and safe. Since there is not a best practice guideline for Hepatitis A in rural counties, research, using past evidence-based studies with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention became the foundation for the response plan. Developing a strategic plan to stop the transmission of infectious diseases needs to be tailored to its community, so that educational flyers, health kits, and vaccination referrals, can be efficiently and professionally dispersed, using modern technology, collaborative partners, with an ethical approach as the prevention campaign’s foundation.