On Oct. 24, the Hamilton community received an email from Jeff Landry, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs, communicating that a student had tested positive for hepatitis A, a highly contagious liver infection. According to Landry, to the best of the College’s knowledge, the diagnosis represents an isolated incident and the infected individual will not return to campus until medically cleared to do so.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises that “Hepatitis A is a highly contagious liver infection caused by the hepatitis A virus. It can range from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a severe illness lasting several months […] Hepatitis A usually spreads when a person unknowingly ingests the virus from objects, food, or drinks contaminated by small, undetected amounts of stool from an infected person.”

In his all-campus email, Landry wrote that “most people who get hepatitis A feel sick for a few weeks, but they typically recover quickly.”

After experiencing symptoms of the illness, the student was treated at a local emergency room and had blood work done. Once the ER determined that they had contracted hepatitis A, the Oneida County Health Department was notified; they subsequently notified Hamilton’s Health Center. This sequence of events occurred on the same day as Landry’s email to the community.

According to Landry, decisions about relaying information about incidents like this to campus are made on a case-by-case basis.

“In this particular instance, Barb Fluty, Director of Health Services notified me of the positive case of hepatitis A,” Landry said. “I gathered the Hamilton Emergency Response Team (HERT) to review the situation and a message was sent to the community.”

To ensure that the virus did not spread, Faculties Management and Bon Appetit immediately initiated their respective protocols to address the presence of a contagious illness on campus. This includes a deep-clean of all surface areas with a bleach-based cleaning agent in places where the infected student reported spending time.

Those in the community who have already received the hepatitis A vaccine are immune from the virus for life.

There have been no additional reports of hepatitis A on campus, however, if a student is experiencing symptoms, they should contact the Health Center at 315–859–4111.

Some symptoms are common to the flu or stomach bug, but hepatitis A specifically causes fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine, diarrhea, clay-colored stools, joint pain, and jaundice.

According to Landry, the student will most likely be able to return this semester. Once they are symptom-free for one week, they will be able to re-engage in regular activities.