PARENTS JAM LINES SEEKING ANSWERS.Byline: Yvette Cabrera Daily News Staff Writer From now on, 6-year-old La Cia Cox will be toting a lunch box to Coldwater Canyon Avenue School. ``You're playing me too close when you're playing with my daughter,'' said La Cia's mother, Kim Moore, her confidence in the school's food program shattered shat·ter v. shat·tered, shat·ter·ing, shat·ters v.tr. 1. To cause to break or burst suddenly into pieces, as with a violent blow. 2. a. after learning her daughter ate a fruit cup possibly tainted taint v. taint·ed, taint·ing, taints v.tr. 1. To affect with or as if with a disease. 2. To affect with decay or putrefaction; spoil. See Synonyms at contaminate. 3. with hepatitis A Hepatitis A Definition Hepatitis A is an inflammation of the liver caused by a virus, the hepatitis A virus (HAV). It varies in severity, running an acute course, generally starting within two to six weeks after contact with the virus, and lasting no . She wasn't alone in her concern Wednesday. Hundreds of parents of children who attend the 18 Los Angeles schools The Los Angeles School of Urbanism is an academic movement emerged during the mid-1980s, loosely based at the University of Southern California and UCLA, that poses a challenge to the dominant Chicago School of Urbanism. where the berries were served jammed telephone lines and crowded into school offices to find answers that were slow in coming. Where can my child get an inoculation inoculation, in medicine, introduction of a preparation into the tissues or fluids of the body for the purpose of preventing or curing certain diseases. The preparation is usually a weakened culture of the agent causing the disease, as in vaccination against ? When would they start? What are the symptoms of hepatitis? How could this happen? ``I'm worried about the school lunch program. It could happen anywhere, but it does cause me concern,'' Kimie Berks said as she walked her 7-year-old son, John Jay, to Strathern Street Elementary School elementary school: see school. in North Hollywood. ``I'm thinking about packing his lunch,'' she said. At Coldwater Canyon, 191 students like La Cia were identified as having eaten the berries - the most students of any of the five Valley schools where the possibly trainted fruit cups were served. Keeping tabs on which children actually ate the desserts is a major concern for school officials. They fear children may have swapped, thrown away or, as in 9-year-old Jazmine Ortega's case, eaten more than their share. ``It tasted kind of funny, but I still swallowed it, but of my friend's cup I just ate two spoons because it tasted pretty gross,'' said Ortega, who became alarmed as she watched the news and learned of the problem. ``I was real scared and my heart started beating,'' Jazmine said. The 75 or so parents who showed up Wednesday were calm, but concerned. Shortly before school let out for a third of the students at noon, parents crowded around the main gate anxiously waiting for their children to exit. The students poured out clutching consent forms and a letter from the principal. The one-page letter, printed in English, Spanish and Armenian, informed them when the frozen fruit cups were distributed and provided details of symptoms of hepatitis A. It also advised parents that the district would provide inoculations at no cost ``to those students and staff considered at high risk of getting seriously ill A patient is seriously ill when his or her illness is of such severity that there is cause for immediate concern but there is no imminent danger to life. See also very seriously ill. or spreading the infection to others.'' In the school's office, parents sat patiently as phones rang and school administrators rushed about answering questions such as when and where the inoculations would take place. Angry that she wasn't notified about the exposure by school officials sooner than Wednesday, Moore said she planned to make an appointment with the family doctor to get La Cia inoculated. And Eleanor Viveros, whose granddaughter experienced hepatitis-like symptoms from an unrelated cause in January, said she planned to have her two grandsons inoculated even though they didn't eat the fruit cups. ``Whether they did or didn't eat the fruit, you don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. if it's going to react today, the day after, or the day after that,'' said Viveros, almost in tears. ``I worry so much about what they eat in school now. I'd rather be sure than sorry.'' CAPTION(S): Box, 2 Photos PHOTO (1 -- color) Eric Pinedo, 5, has a notice about the exposure to hepatitis pinned to his shirt outside Coldwater Canyon elementary Wednesday. Michael Owen
(2 -- color) Kimie Berks walks with her son, John Jay, 7, to Strathern Street school. Since learning of the hepatitis risk, Berks has considered packing a lunch rather than having John buy a meal at the school cafeteria cafeteria: see restaurant. . Evan Yee/Daily News Box: Hepatitis A explained |
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