SEATTLE — The King County board of Health approved a resolution calling for hygiene services to combat outbreaks of serious infectious diseases among people who are homeless in Seattle and throughout King County.
Seattle-King County Public Health is investigating outbreaks of Group A Streptococcus, shigella, and a rare group of infections transmitted by body lice among people who are homeless.
Health officials also are monitoring a potential outbreak of hepatitis A, a potentially fatal disease that spread in San Diego.
At a meeting on Thursday night, Seattle officials described efforts to increase toilets, hot water and hand-washing stations at the city's six sanctioned encampments, and to bring hand-washing kits to the city's many unsanctioned camps.
