Hepatitis B, influenza B on Maine radar

AUGUSTA – State health officials are keeping a watchful eye out for hepatitis B in the wake of an outbreak since June in the Bangor area and for influenza B after the first case was confirmed last week in the state.

Health care providers and hospitals in the state have been asked to be on the alert for symptoms of the two infectious illnesses. Hepatitis B affects the liver and can lead to a variety of complications. Influenza B affects the respiratory system and can cause high fever. It is considered not as dangerous as Influenza A, which led to a pandemic in the early 20th century.

“We have seen a fairly steady stream of hepatitis B cases in northern, central, and eastern Maine over the past several months,” Geoff Beckett, assistant state epidemiologist for the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said Thursday.

Beckett also said that until last week, Maine was among a minority of states in the country that hadn’t had the strain of influenza. The influenza B virus was found in a young woman who died at a Penobscot County hospital on Dec. 21.

The hepatitis B virus, first reported in June, involved seven middle-aged men and a woman, according to Beckett. Of the eight cases reported, seven were from Penobscot County and one was from Hancock County. While some of the cases are believed to have been contracted through sexual intercourse, others were not, he said.

Hepatitis B can be transmitted though sex, sharing a needle, a skin injury, or in rare cases, a blood transfusion, the state official explained.

The virus has been declining in the country since the 1970s and 1980s thanks to vaccines, according to Beckett. That trend also is reflected in Maine since the state had eight cases this year compared to an average of 12 cases a year, he said.

Symptoms of hepatitis B, which affects the liver, include jaundice, abdominal discomfort, and joint pain. About 5 to 10 percent of the people who get hepatitis can develop chronic infections but the majority will eventually clear the infection in a period of weeks or months, according to Beckett.

“It’s a significant health problem,” Beckett said.

The state’s first influenza B case was found in a woman who was visiting Maine from the southeastern United States where the incidence of influenza B has been increasing over the past month, Beckett said. It is unknown exactly where she acquired it and if it contributed to her death, he said.

Testing for influenza and other infections is done routinely in cases of an unexplained death, according to Beckett. The woman’s cause of death has not been determined by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

“This was a very unusual case and it may be something that’s incidental,” Beckett said. Her history was not typical for influenza, he said. He stressed that the virus, which is rarely fatal, is unrelated to the avian influenza virus. There have been no cases of the avian influenza documented in the country, he said.

Influenza symptoms include the acute onset of fever which can last for several days, a headache, muscle pains, a sore throat, a runny nose, fatigue and a cough, according to the state official.

Beckett said it is important for people to be immunized for the influenza, especially those people at risk of becoming more seriously ill which includes the elderly, young children, and those with chronic diseases and respiratory problems. He said there is no shortage of the influenza vaccine.

More information on hepatitis B can be found on the Web at http://www.cdc.gov.ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/b/faqb.htm.

Additional information on influenza B can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms.htm.