BUFFALO, N.Y. — A second, separate potential case of Hepatitis A among Buffalo's homeless population is much more serious than the potential Hep A exposure at a suburban restaurant and senior living center Erie County officials warned about earlier this week.

A homeless person was hospitalized this week, and with a "significant risk of exposure to Buffalo City Mission residents and staff," a clinic was set up for Friday, with vaccines for people who visited between January 24 and February 4.

Two days ago, county health officials announced people who ate at Al-E-Oops in Lancaster or the Brookdale assisted living facility in Williamsville in mid-to-late January might have been exposed to Hepatitis A. Health officials stress the potential cases are separate, and that this one is much more serious, as similar conditions led to outbreaks in Detroit and San Diego.

Also of note are the freezing cold temperatures all winter, with Code Blues in effect to emphasize people with nowhere to go to get off the streets and into a shelter.

Hepatitis A is a common illness worldwide, but not so much in the United States. Symptoms of Hepatitis A include tiredness, poor appetite, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain and fever followed by dark-colored urine, light-colored stool and the yellowing of eyes and skin. It takes “a couple of weeks” for symptoms to develop, according to the health commissioner.  

The illness is transmitted through oral-fecal transmission, through eating contaminated food or water, sexual intercourse or other close contact with an infected individual. There is no treatment for Hepatitis A; the illness typically runs its course and the person recovers without any long-term effect.