Los Angeles County health officials on Monday urged people not to consume Real Water-brand alkaline water because it’s possibly tied to five infant and child cases of acute non-viral hepatitis in Nevada.
The product may be sold at stores in the L.A. area and surrounding regions, which is why the county’s Public Health Department issued the health alert.
It comes days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration urged people to stop drinking, cooking with, selling or serving the product.
The product is sold in 5-gallon containers through delivery and subscription, and in smaller plastic and glass bottles in stores and online.
Federal health officials confirmed the 5-gallon containers were distributed to homes in Orange County through Paradise Bottling Company, and in Ventura and Santa Barbara through Real Water Gold Coast.
The bottles are sold in the L.A. area and other parts of the Southwest U.S., Will Smith, an attorney who filed a lawsuit against the company on behalf of a family whose son became sick after ingesting the water, told the Associated Press last week. Stores like Costco, Sprouts and Whole Foods carry it, he said.
The FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Southern Nevada Health District are all investigating whether the alkaline water resulted in the hospitalizations of five infants and children last November. They all had hepatitis that resulted in acute liver failure.
A cause has yet to be determined, but Real Water brand water is the only known link between the cases thus far, according to the FDA.
No illnesses have been reported in L.A. County.
Symptoms of acute non-viral hepatitis, a liver illness, include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine and yellow skin or eyes, according to the Public Health Department.
Anyone with those symptoms is encouraged to contact their doctor.
More information can be found on the FDA’s website.