COLORADO SPRINGS – The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said an inmate who was first booked into the jail on Jan. 16 tested positive for Hepatitis A on Thursday.
As a precaution, the county’s health department will vaccinate all employees and inmates who may have come in contact with the infected inmate.
El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Jacqueline Kirby said in a statement that the jail began providing Hepatitis A vaccinations to transient inmates, homeless inmates or drug users as a precaution nine days after the infected inmate was booked into the jail.
Kirby said that move was unrelated to this case and was a proactive measure to prevent inmates from possibly spreading disease in the inmate population.
The El Paso County Department of Health said anyone who has ever received a Hepatitis A vaccine should be considered immune.
The CDC said the virus is transmitted through the fecal or oral route of through contaminated food or water. Symptoms include fatigue, low appetite, stomach pain and nausea.
Rarely, it can result in liver failure and death, but most patients recover after feeling sick for several weeks and do not have liver damage.
