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| Health dept. responds to reported Hepatitis A case involving worker at local restaurant |
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5/18/2018
The Montgomery County Health Dept. has responded to a reported case of Hepatitis A in an employee of the Lee’s Famous Recipe located at 205 Evans Ave., according to a release issued Monday. The employee was not directly involved in food preparation.
The health dept. conducted a restaurant inspection to confirm the restaurant is following required food handling regulations, including ensuring all food handlers wear gloves and using a surface cleaner that kills the virus.
Lee’s owners have cooperated fully with the health dept. and are taking further steps to protect customers and employees. As a safety precaution, Lee’s Famous Recipe is partnering with the Montgomery County Health Dept. to vaccinate employees, a release said.
While the risk of transmission has been determined to be low with this case, individuals who visited Lee’s from April 25 to May 11 should be aware of possible symptoms. The most common symptoms are nausea, vomiting, weight loss, fatigue, fever, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes), joint pain, light colored stools and dark colored urine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states it can take up to 50 days from exposure to Hepatitis A for symptoms to develop.
Anyone who is experiencing symptoms should immediately contact their physician or seek other medical attention, the health dept. advises.
There is a two-week window for an individual who has possibly been exposed to receive the Hepatitis A vaccine to prevent infection.
Therefore, customers who visited this location between May 1 to May 11 should consider being immunized as a preventative measure. Hepatitis A vaccine given more than 14 days after a known exposure to Hepatitis A virus may not be effective in preventing Hepatitis A disease due to a recent exposure but can prevent infection from any future exposure.
With the number of Hepatitis A cases rising in the county and throughout the state, anyone who wishes to prevent Hepatitis A disease from a future exposure should be immunized, the health dept. says. Most insurance plans will pay for the Hepatitis A vaccine.
In early May, the Advocate reported that one of five confirmed cases of Hepatitis A at the time was a food handler who worked at the McDonald’s located within Pilot.
“The restaurant was inspected immediately after the report was received and was found to be following all safe food handling precautions including wearing gloves when preparing food. By the time that case was reported and confirmed, the time period for others to show symptoms had already passed and no other cases were reported tied to this food handler or this location,” a release at the time said.
The county has since had more confirmed cases. For complete details, see the story on page A11.
The Kentucky Dept. for Public Health has identified around 400 cases in Kentucky since August and declared a statewide outbreak in November.
For more information about Hepatitis A, visit www.cdc.gov/hepatitis.
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