Yakima Seeks To Address Hepatitis A Cases In Vulnerable Groups Amid Larger Statewide Outbreak

By Enrique Pérez de la Rosa
Resident Danny Pellum gets ready to be vaccinated against Hepatitis A at the Yakima Union Gospel Mission shelter Wednesday. He says he decided to get the shot just to be safe. “I don’t want no surprises later in my life when I could have done something about it tonight,” Pellum said. CREDIT: Enrique Pérez de la Rosa/NWPB
An outbreak of Hepatitis A that’s been spreading throughout Washington state has reached Yakima County. It’s expected to grow over the winter, according to the county health district. The district has confirmed 18 cases of Hepatitis A since declaring an outbreak Nov. 7. The state Department of Health has confirmed 124 cases this year, mostly in King and Spokane counties. Read More

Rural Homelessness Is Very Real — But Harder To See And Help

By NPR News
Homeless residents often live outdoors in tents in rural Kentucky. Rarely pitched out in the open, like this one in Lexington, most are hidden in thick bushes of wooded areas. CREDIT: Mary Meehan/WEKU
Homelessness is often considered an urban phenomenon. But those who work on homeless issues say rural homelessness is a growing problem, too. That's true across the state and across the country. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, NPR, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health reported in May that one in three rural Americans say homelessness is a problem in their Read More

‘God Knows How I’m Still Alive.’ A Teen Decides To Get Vaccinated, Questioning Mother’s Judgment

By NWPB News
Measles is a highly contagious illness that can cause serious health problems, including brain damage, deafness and, in rare cases, death. Vaccination can prevent measles infections. CREDIT: Eric Risberg/AP
Ethan Lindenberger is 18 years old, but had never received vaccines for diseases like hepatitis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, or the chickenpox. Lindenberger's mother, Jill Wheeler, is anti-vaccine. He said she has been influenced by online misinformation, such as a debunked study that claimed certain vaccines were linked with autism, or a theory that vaccines cause Read More
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