God's wicked sense of humour strkies again...

[Gob]

Hundreds of parishioners who took Holy Communion at two Christmas Day services may have been exposed to the hepatitis A, health officials warned today.

A unnamed member of the congregation involved in the service has tested positive for the virus after the Masses at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Massapequa Park, Nassau County.

Up to 30 authorised Eucharistic ministers may have helped the priest carry out the services at 10.30 and noon.

Around 7,500 parishioners belong to the Roman Catholic Church. It's not know how many took communion that day, but the traditional service is always a popular one.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1A73y8aIM

[dgs49]

More details would be helpful.

One scenario would be that the infected person was a Eucharistic minister, who drank the wine first and potentially exposed anyone who later drank wine from the same cup. I suppose this could have exposed maybe 20 people.

The infected person could also have been passing out the communion wafers - maybe a hundred people?

As for God's sense of humor, I recall an old jewish proverb: Man makes plans; God laughs.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Read in the newspaper this week (no link, if you want to look it up go to Newsday.com which is Long Islands newspaper and Massapequa is on Long Island) that the parish sponsored Hep A vaccinations to all parishoners this week. Also read nobody has come down with symptoms (I have no idea how long it takes to come down with it).

No details as to who was the person infected.

[loCAtek]

Hepatitis A outbreaks are often associated with food handled by a carrier who has ineffectively washed his or her hands.

Dr Palmer said a Communion wafer is as likely a source of infection as would be any other food handled by a person with unclean hands.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1AJi5i7EG

So, exposure at a food establishment (much more common) is Gaia's wicked sense of humor?