Email from Ligia

I got Hep A from a vaccine they shot me with at school.  Don't know what
vaccine it was, but EVERYBODY at school got it -- it was a HUGE epidemic.
The hospitals were so crowded with Hep A patients they were putting kids 2
to a bed.  This was in Romania in the 70s.  Wish I knew what the exact
vaccine was... and why all of that happened.

Ligia

When asked further why hospitalized......

It was Hep A for sure -- yellow skin and eyes, dark urine, light colored
stools, liver area tender and swollen, etc.  I know now that no
hospitalization was needed -- would have gotten better on my own, but the
authorities required all of the kids who got sick to be hospitalized for 3
weeks (hundreds from my school and hundreds from orphanages and kindergardens in
the area).  The school and city authorities in my city and nearby cities
were in a big panic -- I remember they went to peoples' houses and sprayed
bleach-type chemicals throughout, and they "educated" parents on how to
isolate the sick kids to make sure they don't pass it on to others.  No
shared plates, glasses, etc.   All of our eating utensils had to be steamed
or boiled after normal washing, no salt was to be used in our diets (my
mother cooked two separate kinds of meals -- with and without seasoning --
for a whole year), etc.  They really made a big deal out of it.  All of us
who were in gymnastics or other sports programs were forced to stop physical
activity for ONE YEAR.  All in all I remember it as a pretty miserable
experience.

Ligia
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