Jewish Community Health Initiative

As many Cleveland, Lakewood(NJ) and Brooklyn Orthodox Jews travel over the schools' mid-Winter break, there is the very real risk that the Shigella outbreak could spread to other communities. Traveling with small children adds various challenges that pose health risks. For example, hosts may not have a well setup diaper changing station or closed-lid garbage can for the soiled diapers. Diaper wipes can be forgotten, and people may end up using the wrong sized diaper. There could be a shortage of underpants for kids who aren't fully potty trained.

People can have Shigella and spread it without ever having symptoms. The illness can be transmitted for 1-2 weeks after symptoms subside, and possibly up to 1 month. While the number of "confirmed" cases may sound small (e.g. 45 in Brooklyn a few months ago, 33 in Cleveland), there are usually 20-30 times as many cases that are not confirmed because they don't see a doctor or no lab tests were ordered. With the outbreak still active, there may be many people in the community who are still contagious.

JCHi has prepared an urgent health alert to raise awareness of this concern. Please read, share and consider posting.

Spread the word, not the infection!

Urgent Health Alert for Frum Communities in the US and Canada