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McDonalds Worker Had Hepatitis A, May Have Infected 10,000 People
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by Amy Judd | July 20, 2009 at 12:27 pm
214 views | 8 Recommendations | 2 comments
A McDonald's worker in Rock Island, Illinois was diagnosed with Hepatitis A on June 17, but state health officials did not know about it until July 13th, and the worker came to work at McDonalds for 7 days during that time and may have infected up to 10,000 people.
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The health officials are offering free preventive treatment to customers who ate at the restaurant at that time, by urging them to get shots.
The virus could have spread from multiple sources however.
"Once we were notified of this matter by the Rock Island County Health Department on July 13, we took immediate corrective action to address their concerns," said Kevin Murphy, McDonald's franchisee. "No one ill knowingly worked in our restaurant once we were notified. The Rock Island County Health Department has repeatedly said that they have not confirmed the source of the outbreak. In fact, they believe, based on the number of confirmed cases, that it's most likely there are multiple sources."
How does Hepatitis A spread?
For example, hepatitis A can spread when people:
- Don't wash their hands thoroughly after going to the toilet or changing nappies.
- Eat non-cooked foods, such as salads, which have been contaminated by being handled by an infectious person.
- Eat shellfish from contaminated waters.
- Drink contaminated water.
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Recommendations (8)
albertacowpoke
Canada
Roy C
Vancouver, Washington, United States
BootedEagle
Helsinki, Finland
mudricky
Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 14:28 on July 20th, 2009
I'm not lovin' it.
at 00:31 on July 21st, 2009
It is unfortunate there is no method to monitor people of infectious diseases that can be quite deadly to people with chronic illnesses too. I am wondering if maybe the health departments should get Dr's to issue health cards that will specify whether somebody is ill with blah blah or treated for blah blah that is available for employers and people.