4 Seasons

Fireplace

49'

Barbecue

GETTING HIP To HEP from page 16

FIREPLACE SALE

FIREPLACE GLASS DOORS ON SALE-

SAVE 10%- & FREE STANDARD INSTALLATION*

BECKWOOD, DESIGN SPECIALTIES, HEARTHCRAFT, & PORTLAND

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................................................... ...

CUSTOM FIREPLACE GLASS DOORS
ALL ON SALE SAVE 10%
PLUS FREE MEASUREMENT & FREE

Normatainesguanal ■

STANDARD INSTALLATION

PETERSON WOODLAND OAK GAS LOG SET

FREE AT HOME
ESTIMATES

W020"

$32999 wo24-$359 99

INCLUDES: logs, burner, pan, embers, cinders,

grate, &

SAFETY PILOT CONTROL.

ALL SIZES & STYLES ON SALE INCLUDING 2

SIDED & CUSTOM SETS INSTALLATION

SEE OUR
BEAUTIFUL SELECTION

OF VENTED AND
UNVENTED
FIREPLACES.

NOW ON SALE

AVAILABLE

sierra OAK unvented GAS LOG SET

so 18"

-

31999 so-24 „ $36999

as: logs, burner, pan, embers, cinders, grate, &

9

F Y PILOT CONTROL. A O.D.S. SENSOR

efficient --less cost - more heat- looks great

FIREPLACE TOOLS,
LOG
BASKETS
GRATES &
LOG HOOPS
20%-50% OFF

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4 Seasons Fireplace & Barbecue

(248)855-0303

30903 ORCHARD LAKE RD., FARMINGTON HILLS

(in Hunter Square between 13 & 14 Mile by TJ Maxx & THE GAP)
HOURS: Monday-Thursday 10 am-9 pm
Friday 10 am-5pm CLOSED SATURDAY OPEN SUNDAY 10AM 6PM

-

CLOSED THIS FRIDAY OCT 24 SALE ENDS OCT 30TH 97

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A BEGINNERS' ISRAELI FOLKDANCE CLASS
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TEENS AND ADULTS

THE BASICS, CIRCLE

& LINE DANCES, GOLDEN OLDIES

AND THE HOTTEST NEW DANCES

LED BY SHELLY & AVI

BEGINNERS'

WED., OCTOBER 29, 1997, 7:00-8:00PM

AND EVERY WEDNESDAY

10/24
1997

is

JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER

6600 W. MAPLE RD., W. BLOOMFIELD, MI., RNI. 150

CoNTA.c-r: 248-626-6891

electronics wholesaler, got sick on
Sept. 7, about a month after eating a
sandwich with slaw on it, and spent
five days in the hospital. He hasn't
decided whether he'll file a com-
plaint, but said he'll "probably" eat at
the Stage again. Zeman declined to
be photographed for this story.
The good news is that those who
fell ill with hepatitis A won't experi-
ence it again.
Vaccines are available, although
they are expensive — about $45
each, minus administrative costs.
Some insurance companies, like
Health Alliance Plan and SelectCare,
cover the cost of the shot if a doctor
recommends it. If a company
includes the benefit in its scope of
employee health coverage, Blue
Cross/Blue Shield would pay for the
vaccination.
Bird noted that counties do not
have a federal contract to dispense
the vaccine and there are no recom-
mendations for widespread vaccina-
tions from the Centers for Disease
Control. Some travel services and
private doctors offer the shots for
people traveling abroad.
But even if the vaccine would
decrease the amount of virus around,
Bird pointed out, it is already on the
wane.
The incidence of the virus has
decreased over the years in Oakland
County as a result of better hygiene
that tends to go hand in hand with
higher socioeconomic standards, Bird
said.
Hepatitis A, predicts Dr. Milton
G. Mutchnick, director of gastroen-
terology at Detroit Medical Center
and professor of medicine at Wayne
State University, "is going to disap-
pear from this country.
"Once you recover from hepatitis
A, it's history. The vast majority of
the world has had hepatitis A. This
is, in some ways, more common than
the flu," he said.
Mutchnick believes that many
people have had hepatitis A and did-
n't know it because its symptoms
mimic the flu. Only 10 percent of
victims turn yellow, and they tend to
be over 40.
"If we talk about 20 to 25 percent
of patients who present with jaun-
dice, one could infer that double or
triple that number had a subclinical
type of hepatitis A that wasn't identi-
fied," Mutchnick said.
Unlike the other forms of hepati-
tis, hepatitis A does not lead to
chronic infection. It can only be

passed by eating fecal-contaminated
food, although oysters, clams and
other shellfish that are not cooked
properly can carry the virus. In the
latest outbreak, the county reported
only one or two secondary cases —
people who got hepatitis A from an
infected family member.
Mutchnick worries much less
about hepatitis A than hepatitis B
and especially C, which he describes
as an epidemic "more insidious" than
AIDS — 4 million people in the
United States suffer from chronic
hepatitis C. They account for 22 per-
cent of all liver transplant recipients,
he said.
Hepatitis C is transmitted through
the blood, either sexually, through
c"
transfusions or through the use of
contaminated needles. The majority
of cases — 85 percent — go chronic,
and because most carriers don't expe-0

Hepatitis
B and C are
much more
insidious
than AIDS.

— Dr. Milton Mutchnick

rience symptoms, they don't know
they have it until they take a test for
antibodies. Half of the victims who
develop endstage liver disease from
the virus die within five years.
Hepatitis B is also blood-borne,
and is often transmitted sexually, but
its symptoms are like hepatitis A's. It
has a 3-8 percent chance of becom-
ing chronic, Mutchnick said, and it
can be detected through a blood test.
However, there is no treatment for
hepatitis B. A balanced diet, rest and
exercise are advisable.
Doctors are using the drug inter-
feron to treat hepatitis C, and in
Detroit, researchers at Detroit
Medical Center are working on new
treatments, Mutchnick said.
People infected with hepatitis B
and C are likelier than others to
develop liver cancer or cirrhosis. ❑