Newspapers are reporting that as many as 30 people have become infected with Hepatitis A after eating at a Milan, IL McDonalds. It has been reported that a restaurant worker infected with the virus continued to prepare food for nearly a month before the restaurant was shut down and sanitized. As many as 10,000 people may have been exposed to the virus during that time.
The hepatitis A virus (HAV) is an acute liver disease, noted by fatigue, nausea, abdominal pain, fever and other conditions easily mistaken for gastroenteritis or the flu. Hepatitis A is not as serious as other forms of the hepatitis virus, but is still cause for concern. The virus is transmitted person-to-person through consumption of food or water contaminated with infected fecal matter.
According to the CDC, for every one person that comes forward with a case of foodborne illness, potentially dozens of cases go unreported. That means, according to CDC math, if 30 people have already come forward, hundreds may have been infected with hepatitis A from this particular McDonalds. Health officials in Illinois are urging those exposed to the disease to get a shot of the vaccination, immune globulin, to prevent illness.
Richard J. Arsenault, 2010
