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PENINSULA DAILY NEWS May 23, 23, 2016 | 75¢
Port Angeles-Sequim-West End
Hepatitis ignored but on the rise Infection unknown without testing BY ROB OLLIKAINEN PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — A deadly liver disease is being ignored despite its growing prevalence, a state epidemiologist told the Clallam County Board of Health last week. Hepatitis C is on the rise on the North Olympic Peninsula and other regions across the country, said Dr. Scott Lindquist, state epidemiologist for communicable diseases with the state Department of Health. “I don’t know of any other
infectious disease that we ignore so completely as hepatitis C,” Lindquist told the health board Tuesday. “There’s not a single case of Ebola that got ignored, right? There is not a single case of measles in Clallam County that would get ignored. “But you have hundreds of hepatitis C cases up here [being] ignored.” Lindquist said he is “turning up the heat” on hepatitis C. He received a grant from the Association of State Territorial Health Officials to prepare a
statewide epidemiology profile to “really describe the burden of hepatitis,” he said. An estimated 2.7 million to 3.5 million Americans have hepatitis C. In Washington state, the number is somewhere between 54,000 and 70,000, Lindquist said.
Liver damage If left untreated, hepatitis C can lead to liver cirrhosis, cancer and liver failure. A person can have chronic hepatitis C for decades without even knowing it. Most acute cases are not recognized. Only a quarter of those with acute hepatitis C have symptoms.
“They’re a lot like the flu, so during the flu season, a person with flu-like symptoms may have hepatitis C and you don’t even really know,” Lindquist said. “About four out of five remain infected for the remainder of their life.” Baby boomers born between 1946 and 1966 account for most hepatitis C cases, Lindquist said. Others at risk are those who have injected drugs, received blood before 1992, have been on long-term kidney dialysis, had abnormal liver tests or are HIVinfected. In rare cases, hepatitis C can spread through medical and dental infections, sexual contact or
through the shared use of personal items such as razors and piercing tools. “But clearly,” Lindquist said, “injection drug use is the No. 1 [cause].” “If you want to understand hepatitis C, you have to understand drug use,” he added. “It’s that simple.”
New medications The good news about hepatitis C is that new medications can cure it. The bad news is that those drugs cost upward of $100,000 for a full regimen. TURN
TO
HEPATITIS/A6
Waiting for the lucky duck Wanted: Have
dirt; gardeners needed in PA Green thumbs working together BY ROB OLLIKAINEN PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
DAVE LOGAN/FOR PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Officials Monte English, left and Bob Lovell watch very carefully as the ducks enter the finish chute in the pond at Lincoln Park in Port Angeles on Sunday. Only one of the over 29,500 ducks could the grand prize winner. See page A6 for a list of winners.
45 winners in Derby PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
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The Fifth Street Community Garden has individual 9-foot-by12-foot plots rented by each garden member. Annual membership in the Eleventh Street Community Garden is $100 per family for the growing season. The community garden model fosters teamwork and allows mentoring by experienced gardeners for those who are new to growing their own food, Port Angeles Community Gardens officials said in a news release. “Many of our gardeners are inexperienced,” Gibson said in a Communal garden telephone interview. Unlike the Fifth Street Commu“We’re here to help them.” nity Garden at 328 E. Fifth St., the TURN TO GARDEN/A6 Eleventh Street Community Gar-
CHRIS MCDANIEL/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Hank Gibson, 62, of Port Angeles attaches pea plants to a trellis Sunday afternoon at the Fifth Street Community Garden. The tendrils will grow up along the strings before flowering and producing edible peas.
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Individual plots
about $25,000 were up for grabs this year with proceeds benefiting the Olympic Medical Center Foundation and the Sequim Rotary Club’s charitable projects. “Most of it goes to the hospital” and is “typically spent on medical equipment,” said Rick Smith, co-chairman of the 27th event, before the race.
Many of the ducks stubbornly got hung up in the chute, which was longer than in previous PORT ANGELES — Bill years because the pond has Paquin of Port Angeles is one dried up throughout the past lucky duck. month, Smith said. Paquin’s yellow rubber duck “It is a little challenging this — one of more than 29,500 year because the water level is entered into Sunday’s 27th down so much,” he said. annual Great Olympic PeninThe horde of ducks that did sula Duck Derby — was the first enter the water at the beginning to float over the finish line, earn- Full dump truck slowly inched across the pond ing Paquin a choice between a toward the finish line, an advancThe race began as a dump 2016 Tacoma pickup truck or truck full of rubber ducks, which ing fleet of sun-glassed canards. Corolla donated by Wilder ToyOne by one, the first 45 ducks was parked on the bank above ota of Port Angeles. to cross the finish line were The derby was at the Lincoln the pond, upended its load. carefully documented and placed The rush of ducklings were Park ponds. Paquin was not present when pushed down a chute by streams in plastic bags so they could be of water from firehoses operated paired with their ticket owners. his victory was announced, and Following the race, crews by firefighters with Port Angeles could not immediately be carefully corralled the ducks and reached by phone. Fire Department and Clallam removed them from the pond. In total, 45 prizes worth County Fire District No. 2. BY CHRIS MCDANIEL
PORT ANGELES — Gardeners of all skill levels are sought to participate in Port Angeles’ newest community garden. The Eleventh Street Community Garden at Wolverton Park is ready for planting, said Robin Gibson of Port Angeles Community Gardens. The garden and neighborhood park is on 11th Street between A and B streets. “We’ve got a lot more space to plant,” Gibson said. “We’re looking for people to participate.” While the garden is not yet finished, volunteers have completed enough work to allow gardeners to begin planting vegetables. “We’ve got all kinds of things started in the garden already,” Gibson said.
den is communal, meaning its members work together to grow the chosen crops and share in the harvest. The gardeners decide collectively what to plant and who will do what to care for the plants. “We’re all working on the whole garden,” Gibson said.
CLASSIFIED COMICS COMMENTARY DEAR ABBY HOROSCOPE LETTERS NATION PENINSULA POLL PUZZLES/GAMES
B3 B5 A7 B5 B5 A7 A4 A2 B4
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B1 A2 A8 A4