Dubois County Health Department is offering vaccines for Hepatitis A as significant outbreaks continue around Indiana and Kentucky.
The County Health Department says that due to a large number of Hepatitis A cases that have been reported in Southern Indiana and Kentucky they are seeing an increase of request from residents for the Hep A vaccine.
In Indiana, 39 cases were diagnosed in March, and close to 50 cases for the month of April. In Kentucky, almost 120 cases were identified in March and another 80 in April.
Pam Potones, Deputy State Health Commissioner said Indiana’s state health department is providing hepatitis A vaccines to high-risk groups, like people who are homeless or use drugs. Officials have distributed 5,000 vaccines to those populations in the past few months.
While locally Dubois County Health Department Officials say most of the request for the vaccine have come from walk-ins they are instead encouraging the public interested in being vaccinated to call ahead of time at 812-481-7050 and make an appointment.
Vaccines are available from 8:30 am till 3:30 pm through the health departments immunization program.
A vaccine for hepatitis A was created in 1995, symptoms can appear abruptly and include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, dark urine, clay-colored stools and joint pain.
