Immunization Action Coalition - PDF document

Immunization Action Coalition • St. Paul, MN 55104 • (6647-9009 • www..org • wwwnewspaper,The Spokesman-Review, on June 7, 1998. It is repro-Spokesman-Review,(Spokane, WA) Copyright 1998. By Cynthia Taggart, staffwriter.“To know how I got it is just disgusting,” the Lakesigned to be baggy. She tires so quickly that her daysfriend’s house. Allison will never know. By the timeincubated inside her for two months. Tracking its ori-When the virus reached maturity, it devouredAllison’s liver like a starving lion.As her senior year began to culminate in stage pro-academic projects and pre-graduation bonding par-school production of “Noises Off” and willed herself“I didn’t want to give that part up,” she says.asleep in the auditorium during a special activity. SheBy the weekend, her stomach refused to hold any-thing. Her mother, Patti, began to suspect hepatitisafter she noticed Allison’s urine was unnaturally dark.Doctors didn’t agree with Patti and gave Allison anrest of the day until dehydration became a worry.Her parents took her to Kootenai Medical Center’semergency room that night. Patti sensed her diagno-scurrying to warn everyone about Allison’s infectedbody fluids. Hepatitis A zeroes in on the liver, weak-ening it so much that it can’t process medications.people fully recover.Food servers who don’t wash their hands after usingported in this country each year. Forty cases alreadyhave been reported to Panhandle Health Districtwww.immunize.org/reports/report013.pdf • Item #T2011-13 (2/10/99) Immunization Action Coalition • St. Paul, MN 55104 • (6647-9009 • www..org • wwwthrough May this year, which equals the total num-Allison’s parents, younger sister and uneasy friendsfrom Allison. She tried to explain that the virus isn’tdebate tournament in St. Louis, MO, on June 14.North Idaho to qualify.ness broke Allison’s heart. She’d planned to photo-graph herself on a difficult rock climb in Post Falls. Butto march in Saturday’s graduation ceremony.“We’ve lamented that she’s not been able to enjoythe last few weeks of her senior year,” says Patti, who,like Allison, doesn’t waste energy stewing over theunfairness of it all. “This is a special time of her life.”“The hardest part was realizing I couldn’t do every-a little. The little things don’t matter. Things comeyour way you don’t expect. You just deal with it.”Spokesman-Review.