Or, at least your shouldn’t.

Hardly a week goes by that there is not yet another announcement of a hepatitis A positive employee putting co-workers, customers and the restaurant brand at risk. There have been illnesses, deaths, thousands of customers have had to stand in long lines to get preventative

Continue Reading Publisher’s Platform: Offer Hepatitis A Vaccines – an offer you can’t refuse

— OPINION —

ACIP Secretariat
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices 
1600 Clifton Road, N.E., Mailstop H24-8
Atlanta, GA 30329-4027
acip@cdc.gov

Re:  Letter to the CDC’s Committee on Immunization Practices – It is time to deal with Hepatitis A and Food Service Workers

Dear ACIP Secretariat:

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices

Continue Reading Publisher’s Platform: It’s time to deal with hepatitis A and food service workers

The patient count in a hepatitis A outbreak linked to Virginia restaurants continues to grow, with 44 people now confirmed as infected. One of the patients has required a liver transplant and one has died.

The cousin of the transplant patient reports the operation took place this past weekend. The
Continue Reading More sick in hepatitis A outbreak traced to restaurants; one required liver transplant

Sequence-based typing has helped to detect clusters and identify outbreaks of hepatitis A in Sweden, according to a study.

Researchers investigated hepatitis A virus (HAV) sequences of 447 cases reported in the country from 2009 to 2018. Findings were published in the journal Eurosurveillance.

In Sweden, hepatitis A is
Continue Reading Researchers assess method to help with hepatitis A surveillance

Presently, there has been outbreaks of hepatitis A that were first identified in 2016.  I started noticing the outbreak in San Diego in 2016, spreading to Utah, Kentucky and beyond. Now 30 states have publicly reported the following as of August 30, 2019

  • Cases: 24,952
  • Hospitalizations: 14,984 (60%)
  • Deaths: 244


Continue Reading Publisher’s Platform: Hey, CDC, time to recommend Food Service Workers be vaccinated against hepatitis A

From yesterday:  “The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) is warning of a possible hep A exposure after an employee of the McDonald’s in Trumann tested positive for the virus.”

In 2000, I wrote this:

In light of the recent, large-scale Hepatitis A exposure in the San Francisco Bay Area, food
Continue Reading Publisher’s Platform: Restaurant Hepatitis A challenge – agree to vaccinate your employees and I will not sue you

Opinion

My bet vaccinating employees looks very good at this point.

In March, an employee at the Western Sizzlin’ in Ooltewah was diagnosed with hepatitis Aand on one Sunday, the health department gave out over 500 Hepatitis A vaccines.  Now the restaurant is closing. A sign on the door explains
Continue Reading Publisher’s Platform: Western Sizzlin’ in Ooltewah Tennessee closing due to Hepatitis A

Opinion

Or, ignore the issue, sicken your customers and be assured, you will be sued.

A fact from the CDC: “Since the hepatitis A outbreaks were first identified in 2016, more than 15,000 cases, 8,500 (57%) hospitalizations, and 140 deaths as a result of hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection have
Continue Reading Publisher’s Platform: It is Irresponsible for Restaurants to not offer Hepatitis A Vaccines to Employees

Some details from a Kentucky candy maker and the Food and Drug Administration don’t quite match up, but the federal agency and the operator of Bauer’s Candies agree there is a chance some of the company’s products are contaminated with the hepatitis A virus.

As of 11:30 p.m. EST Dec.
Continue Reading Candy maker says worker with Hep A probably didn’t contaminate product