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Cummins jailer fired, charged with smuggling drugs into prison

Cummins jailer fired, charged with smuggling drugs into prison

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LITTLE ROCK — According to Arkansas State Police, a sergeant at the Arkansas Department of Correction Cummins Unit was arrested on Tuesday.

On Monday afternoon, 26-year-old Sergeant Tia Washington entered the Cummins Unit to report to work. She was searched and prison staff found an object in her duty belt containing 53 grams of what is believed to be marijuana or K2.

Prison authorities contacted Special Agents of the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division.

Arkansas Department of Correction Cummins Unit was arrested for stashing drugs inside her body.

Agents later recovered approximately 71 grams of what is believed to be marijuana or K2 hidden inside Washington’s body. She is charged with introduction of prohibited articles into a prison facility and possession of controlled substances for the purpose of distribution.

According to Dina Tyler with ADC, Washington was terminated from her position.

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More than a dozen deaths in Tennessee hepatitis A outbreak

TENNESSEE — A hepatitis A outbreak has infected 2,257 since December 2017. Thirteen deaths have been attributed to the outbreak, according to information released by the Tennessee Department of Health Tuesday.

Seven of these deaths were in East Tennessee, where the outbreak has hit the hardest, according to Elizabeth Heart, a state health department spokeswoman. Hart said five more deaths occurred in Middle Tennessee and one was in West Tennessee.

State officials said the death toll includes all deaths among hepatitis A patients since the outbreak began in December 2017, regardless of if the death was directly attributable to hepatitis A.

“The deaths in Tennessee associated with the hepatitis A outbreak are extremely sad,” said DR. Lisa Piercey, the Department of Health Commissioner, in a news release.

“The Tennessee Department of Health, metro health departments, jails and many other community partners are working every day to ensure people at high risk of infection with the hep A virus are vaccinated to prevent more illness and save lives.’’

Hepatitis A is a liver infection caused by a virus that causes fever, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine, and a yellowing of the eyes and skin, known as jaundice. The infection is most commonly spread through contaminated food and water or close contact with an infected person, particularly anal intercourse. Vaccines have been standard for children for about a decade, but many adults were never immunized, according to the state health department.

In recent years, large hepatitis A outbreaks have hit in California, Michigan and Kentucky, infecting hundreds and killing dozens. Tests conducted by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention determined the Nashville outbreak can be tracked back to a virus strain responsible for outbreaks in both San Diego and Louisville.

Tennessee’s outbreak began in December 2017, but it wasn’t publicly announced until last May. Since then, the infection spread through much of the state’s middle and eastern region. In total, 2,257 people have been infected. More than 60 percent of those patients required hospitalization.

More than 570 people caught the virus in Knoxville and the surrounding 15 counties.

Another 273 were infected in Chattanooga.

William Schaffner, a renown infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said the hepatitis A virus is particularly difficult to contain because infected people can be contagious for as long as a month before they become visibly sick.

“That’s why hepatitis A is so very hard to figure out from a public health perspective,” Schaffner said. “You’re always running behind the virus, your always trying to catch up.”

State officials have said the most at-risk populations include homeless people, gay and bisexual men and recreational drug users.

“It’s critical for people in these high-risk groups to receive the hepatitis A vaccine to protect themselves and others around them,” said Dr.

Michelle Fiscus, who leads the state immunization program. “We know this vaccine is safe and effective.”

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