The Larimar County Department of Health and Environment is offering more free hepatitis A and immune globulin vaccinations for customers of Tortilla Marissa’s North of the Border Cafe restaurant in Fort Collins, Colorado. An employee there was diagnosed with the illness last month. The restaurant is located at 2635 S. College Avenue in Fort Collins. If you ate there after June 17, 2014 you should get a shot.
More than 800 customers have received the vaccinations since the announcement was made last week. The vaccines are only effective if given within two weeks of exposure. Hepatitis A is extremely contagious and the virus can be transmitted through food and drink and through direct contact, as well as contact with contaminated objects and surfaces.
The clinics will be open next week for anyone who ate at that restaurant in the last 14 days. The clinic is located at 1525 Blue Spruce Drive. Appointments are necessary. The clinic hours are Monday, July 7 from 9:00 am to noon and from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm; and Tuesday, July 8, from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Call 498-6767 to make an appointment.
If you need a vaccination before that time period, contact your doctor and get the shot. For more information, call 1-877-462-2911. If you want to speak to someone about personal health issues related to this situation, call 970-498-6706 and leave a message.
If it has been more than 14 days since you ate at that restaurant and you have not been previously vaccinated, monitor yourself for the symptoms of hepatitis A. They include fever, diarrhea, nausea, light-colored stool, dark-colored urine, yellow eyes and skin (jaundice), tiredness, loss of appetite, and abdominal cramps. People can be sick for months with this illness. Anyone with liver disease could become seriously ill if they contract the disease. Symptoms usually appear 15 to 50 days after exposure.
