Christmas Communion at a NY Church May Have Infected Hundreds with Hepatitis A

[IScreamSundays]

Source: ABC News

Catholics who receive communion at Sunday mass believe the sacred wafer they swallow contains the body of Christ. New York health officials have warned the parishioners of a Long Island church that the wafers they received on Christmas Day may have also contained hepatitis A.

The Nassau County Department of Health in New York is warning parishioners who attended Christmas Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Massapequa Park to seek treatment, worried that the hundreds who took communion could fall ill.

Those who attended the 10:30 a.m. and noon Masses are most likely to be at risk, according to the health department.

While no individuals who attended the Masses have reported illness, MaryEllen Laurain, a spokesperson for the county's department of health, said vaccines will be offered as a "preventative measure.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/catholics-received-holy-communion-christmas-risk-hepatitis/story?id=12537329

[Ian David]

1. Christ didn't wipe his ass before he turned into bread?

On the diocese's website a message read, "We pray that no one comes down with this virus."



I think the vaccine might be a safer bet.

[valerief]

9. Bwahahahaha!

:rofl:

[BadGimp]

20. omg that's funny -

SICK but funny

[notadmblnd]

2. now how would hepititis get in the wafer?

I could see it being spread by everyone drinking wine out of the same cup. All I've ever seen is a priest wiping the rim before the next person drinks.

[CreekDog]

3. .

.

[jwirr]

Most likely one of the persons handing out the wafers has it. That is

all it takes.

[hedgehog]

5. At our parish, everyone who hands out Communion washes their

hands with a waterless disinfectant just before approaching the altar. It's been standard since last year's flu scare.

Oddly enough, some of the ritual around the chalice is left over from early attempts at keeping things sanitary. For example, the chalice is kept covered by a small board most of the time in order to prevent flies from falling in.

Drinking from a common cup is one thing, but what about the traditionalists who want to return to receiving Communion on the tongue? In the old days, the priest would end up touching quite a few tongues while going down the communion rail.

[onehandle]

8. They still end up touching many hands when not placing directly on the tongue.

And if you don't present your palm, the priest will still place the host on your tongue. I did that on Christmas Eve.

[du_grad]

16. Alcoholic hand sanitizers are good but...

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5116a1.htm

...do not get everything. From the website(read towards the end of this paragraph):

"Alcohols, when used in concentrations present in alcohol-based hand rubs, also have in vivo activity against several nonenveloped viruses (Table 2). For example, 70% isopropanol and 70% ethanol are more effective than medicated soap or nonmedicated soap in reducing rotavirus titers on fingerpads (137,138). A more recent study using the same test methods evaluated a commercially available product containing 60% ethanol and found that the product reduced the infectivity titers of three nonenveloped viruses (i.e., rotavirus, adenovirus, and rhinovirus) by >3 logs (81). Other nonenveloped viruses such as hepatitis A and enteroviruses (e.g., poliovirus) may require 70%--80% alcohol to be reliably inactivated (82,139). However, both 70% ethanol and a 62% ethanol foam product with emollients reduced hepatitis A virus titers on whole hands or fingertips more than nonmedicated soap; both were equally as effective as antimicrobial soap containing 4% chlorhexidine gluconate in reducing reduced viral counts on hands (140). In the same study, both 70% ethanol and the 62% ethanol foam product demonstrated greater virucidal activity against poliovirus than either non-antimicrobial soap or a 4% chlorhexidine gluconate-containing soap (140). However, depending on the alcohol concentration, the amount of time that hands are exposed to the alcohol, and viral variant, alcohol may not be effective against hepatitis A and other nonlipophilic viruses. The inactivation of nonenveloped viruses is influenced by temperature, disinfectant-virus volume ratio, and protein load (141). Ethanol has greater activity against viruses than isopropanol. Further in vitro and in vivo studies of both alcohol-based formulations and antimicrobial soaps are warranted to establish the minimal level of virucidal activity that is required to interrupt direct contact transmission of viruses in health-care settings."

[hedgehog]

18. My guess is that it's a case of better than nothing. At least it raises

awareness of a need to protect the people you're dealing with. The parishes I've been at all had enough Eucharistic ministers that a couple could sit out if they were contagious.

I suppose that someone placing Communion in people's hands is apt to touch those hands sooner or later. Still, I'd rather take my chances with microbes picked up from hands than microbes direct from someone's tongue!

[du_grad]

24. As a microbiologist....

I feel it fair to warn you that mouths are full of bacteria but so are hands. Hands tend to pick up and carry Staphylococcus aureus (the bad strain being MRSA), while "normal" mouths aren't that bad. Of course, there IS the virus issue, which is a whole different ball game. Both, when it comes right down to it, can be pretty gross.

Best course of action - always wash your hands soon after going out anywhere in public.

http://www.henrythehand.com/ - this is a great website for everyone. Has lots of good information about hands and how they carry stuff. Also there is good information for parents and their kids. There are downloadable posters also.

http://www.henrythehand.com/pages/content/t_zone.html - most important page on the site!

[jwirr]

4. Most likely one of the persons handing out the wafers has it. That is

all it takes.

[virgogal]

22. I go to church for weddings and funerals and I give a pass on the

wine because it seems so unsanitary and I'm definitely not germ-phobic.

[gateley]

6. People may have antibodies anyway - I do and I've never had a full blown

instance of Hep A, so hopefully most will be okay.

[du_grad]

15. Hepatitis A, B, and C are totally different diseases

http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/A/index.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/A/aFAQ.htm#overview

"What is the difference between Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C?
Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C are diseases caused by three different viruses. Although each can cause similar symptoms, they have different modes of transmission and can affect the liver differently. Hepatitis A appears only as an acute or newly occurring infection and does not become chronic. People with Hepatitis A usually improve without treatment. Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C can also begin as acute infections, but in some people, the virus remains in the body, resulting in chronic disease and long term liver problems. There are vaccines to prevent Hepatitis A and B; however, there is not one for Hepatitis C. If a person has had one type of viral hepatitis in the past, it is still possible to get the other types."

Have you had a Hep A vaccination? I'm not sure what they give children routinely nowadays but I would be willing to bet that most adults in this country have never been vaccinated for this disease. It was not available until 1995. I know that they routinely give the Hep B vaccines to kids now, and most people in Health Care have had the Hep B vaccination. The only other way you would have antibodies, according to CDC, is to have had the disease (but you can have it asymptomatically and still shed the virus to other people). The virus is very hardy and can live on environmental surfaces in a dried state for a long time. Best way to eradicate the virus is with a bleach solution (one part bleach to 4 parts water).

Treatment for exposures consists of receiving immune globulin within two weeks of exposure.

I have been a medical technologist in clinical labs since 1974.

[OnyxCollie]

7. Body of Christ, body of Christ...

[LiberalEsto]

10. I think some of my husband's relatives go there

I hope all these folks are going to be okay

[rachael7]

11. If the wafers are the literal body of Christ...

I don't pretend to understand all this religious tomfoolery, so help me out here... If someone got Hep A onto the wafers and the wafers are the literal body of Christ, does that mean that someone at that church gave Christ Himself Hep A? I know it's not in the top 10 Thou Shalt Nots or anything, but giving Christ Hep A has GOT to be a big no-no, right? I mean, isn't Hep A one of those 'gay' diseases? This can't be good.

[hedgehog]

19. I hesitate to approach the subject since it is a real minefield, but here goes.

To the best of my knowledge, the teaching is that the hosts and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ while retaining their original appearance. I never studied philosophy, but I seem to recall the technical term for how the hosts and wine look is "accident" or "accidents" maybe?

Now, in my own personal belief, I think the truth of the matter is too deep for us to be able to define it with words. We can approach a description of what happens when the bread and wine are consecrated, but not pin things down exactly. Trying to define the Real Presence is like trying to define the color blue for a person who has been blind since birth.

The belief in the Real Presence has become a bit of a flash point in Catholic circles. Some who consider themselves more orthodox than others don't think the rest of us believe in the Real Presence or don't believe it enough. For some, the Real Presence is a point of pride, something Catholics have and Protestants don't. However, an article in the Jesuit magazine America pointed out that the Real Presence also is tied to "whenever two or more of you are gathered in my name". In other words,Jesus is also present whenever a bunch of Protestants pray together!(and boy am I going to get in trouble with some of my less ecumenically inclined fellow Catholics for writing that!)

In my own opinion, suggesting that a virus on a host means Jesus is exposed to HEP A is silly. So are the stories told by some Catholics about a priest somewhere sticking a needle in a host and seeing it bleed. The skeptic and the overly credulous person both miss the point. Now , suggest to me that the Christ is present in every person with Hep A or Hep B or Hep C or HIV AIDS, and now you're getting closer (I think) to what Jesus taught (Matthew 25) and closer to the power of the Eucharist.

[melm00se]

26. the doctrine is called transubstantiation

it is the belief (and not really open to discussion or debate - either you to take on faith or you don't) that during the consecration of the host and the wine (this mirrors the events described in Mark 14:22-26) thru the power of God and the Holy Spirit, the bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ.

This is one of the rites that anti-Catholic folks whip out when they attack Catholics (as Catholics are one of the few Christian Sects that perform this ritual). They claim that Catholics perform ritualistic cannibalism (:shrug:).

There are multiple interpretations of transubstantiation (most of which remain on the doctrinal "reservation"). the more prevalent one among Catholic scholars is that, like much of the Bible, the Rite of Consecration is allegorical in nature. Jews (remember: no Christians yet) did perform blood sacrifices (read the Pentateuch, plenty of laws/rules that govern them) and Christ, with this act, broke from that tradition and performed a blood sacrifice without the blood and flesh. Although He did, according to the Bible, approach/accept His coming execution willingly and this is held up, by some scholars and lay people, as proof that His sacrifice was a blood sacrifice in the Old Testament tradition (a discussion of which would open up a whole different can of worms).

A couple of "technical" matters:

the Host is made of unleavened bread (the Crucifixion took place during Passover and unleavened bread is a staple) and were, traditionally, one of the items that Convents produced. The preparation, while not "holy", is controlled by doctrine (wheat flour and water only but accommodations are made for folks with certain kinds of allergies). The wafer is just a wafer until Consecration. Of course, even before Consecration, the wafer is treated with respect (as a Father in school said: "No tiddlywinks with the host please") but that level of respect goes off the charts post-Consecration (they are never thrown away, all reasonable precautions to prevent it from hitting the floor etc)

Like above, the traditional sources for Sacramental wine are/were religious orders. In the case of the wine, that is mainly Monasteries. There are traditional wineries that do produce Sacramental wines in accordance with Church doctrine (ditto with Kosher wines) as a side business.

Please note: this, like many matters of religion, is based upon faith. If you do not believe, that's fine, if you do believe, that's fine too. You don't have to believe but, as I was once forcefully reminded in Catholic High School, you should respect the beliefs of others.

[felinetta]

12. Glad I gave up Catholicism for Lent years ago and never went back.

[Rage for Order]

13. We Catholics are glad you did, too

:thumbsup:

[Skittles]

14. sacred wafer

:rofl:

[struggle4progress]

17. 400 at Massapequa Park church for vaccine

Originally published: January 4, 2011 11:27 AM
Updated: January 4, 2011 9:37 PM
By DELTHIA RICKS [e-mail]

More than 400 members of Our Lady of Lourdes Church filed into the Massapequa Park parish Tuesday to receive preventive treatment against hepatitis A, which may have been passed during two Christmas Day service ...

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/400-at-massapequa-park-church-for-vaccine-1.2585706

[BadGimp]

21. The Church has been infiltraded

Authorities believe an image of the culprit was captured in this photo.

[fasttense]

23. Great photo, made me spit out my coffee. n/t

[Cutatious]

25. Good thing AIDs in Africa jokes were not as childish

After all the natives claiming that fucking a virgin would cure them of their disease. That and many other ignorant vectors.