A second food handler has been diagnosed with hepatitis A at Tim Hortons Restaurant at 404 South Monroe Street in Monroe, Michigan, according to the Monroe County Health Department. Another employee was diagnosed with that illness earlier this month. Anyone who consumed food and/or drink from that establishment between December 10 and December 28, 2017 may have been exposed to the pathogenic virus.
If you visited that facility before December 15, 2017 it’s now too late to get an immune globulin or hepatitis A vaccination. All you can do is monitor yourself for the symptoms of hepatitis A and see your doctor if they appear.
Symptoms include jaundice (yellowing of the eyes and skin), poor appetite, lethargy, fatigue, stomach pain or tenderness, nausea or vomiting, dark urine, diarrhea, and clay colored stools. These symptoms usually begin 2 to 6 weeks after exposure, although they can appear 50 days later.
If you ate there from December 15th until December 28, 2017, get vaccinated against the illness as soon as possible. The vaccines are only effective if given within two weeks of exposure.
For information about free hepatitis A vaccination clinics, call the Monroe County Health Department at 734-240-7800, Bridget Huss at 734-240-7831, or Chris Westover at 734-240-7921.
The best way to protect yourself against this illness is through vaccination. If you have been vaccinated previously or have had this illness you are immune. You can also help stop the spread of hepatitis A by washing your hands well after using the bathroom or changing diapers, and by staying home from work or school if you are sick, especially if you have diarrhea. Cooking foods kills the virus, but freezing does not destroy it.
Anyone who has hepatitis A is contagious for 2 weeks before symptoms appear, so can easily spread it at this time. The virus is spread through contaminated food and drink, through touching common surfaces, and person-to-person by the fecal-oral route. Most people get the virus from contact with an infected household member.
