in total annual healthcare costs. Cost effectiveness studies have found widespread vaccination of adults to not be feasible, but have stated that a combination hepatitis A and B vaccination of children and at risk groups (people from endemic areas, healthcare workers) may be. Hepatitis B accounts for a much larger percentage of health care spending in endemic regions like Asia. In 1997 it accounted for 3.2% of South Korea's total health care expenditures and resulted in $696 million in direct costs. A large majority of that sum was spent on treating disease symptoms and complications. Chronic hepatitis B infections are not as endemic in the United States, but accounted for $357 million in hospitalization costs in the year 1990. That number grew to $1.5 billion in 2003, but remained stable as of 2006, which may be attributable to the introduction of effective drug therapies and vaccination campaigns. People infected with chronic hepatitis C tend to be frequent users of the health care system globally. It has been estimated that a person infected with hepatitis C in the United States will result in a monthly cost of $691. That number nearly doubles to $1,227 for people with compensated (stable) cirrhosis, while the monthly cost of people with decompensated (worsening) cirrhosis is almost five times as large at $3,682. The wide-ranging effects of hepatitis make it difficult to estimate indirect costs, but studies have speculated that the total cost is $6.5 billion annually in the United States. In Canada, 56% of HCV related costs are attributable to cirrhosis and total expenditures related to the virus are expected to peak at CAD$396 million in the year 2032. 2003 Monaca outbreak The largest outbreak of hepatitis A virus in United States history occurred among people who ate at a now-defunct Mexican food restaurant located in Monaca, Pennsylvania in late 2003. Over 550 people who visited the restaurant between September and October 2003 were infected with the virus, three of whom died as a direct result. The outbreak was brought to the attention of health officials when local emergency medicine physicians noticed a significant increase in cases of hepatitis A in the county. After conducting its investigation, the CDC attributed the source of the outbreak to the use of contaminated raw green onion. The restaurant was purchasing its green onion stock from farms in Mexico at the time. It is believed that the green onions