There is a lot of Hepatitis A in the news over the last few months.

Thumbnail image for HepatitisLawyer.jpgThe Wilkes County Health Department in the last week administered Hepatitis A vaccinations to 660 people after an employee of a local food establishment was diagnosed with the virus on May 13, said Debbie Nicholson, the department’s director of nursing.  Mrs. Nicholson said the shots were given to people who came to the health department for a special hepatitis A clinic during extended hours May 18 and 19 and later during regular health department hours through this past Friday.

The Tennessean reports that three students from Greenbrier High School have been infected with the Hepatitis A virus in recent weeks, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.  State health officials are offering free vaccines to both students and staff members at the school on Friday, May 5.  The clinic will offer the free vaccines from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.  Over 300 students and teachers received vaccines.

Hepatitis A has also caused recent scares in Alabama and Indiana.  In May, the Vanderburgh County, Indiana, Health Department and the Indiana State Department of Health investigated a case of Hepatitis A in a food worker at the Lone Star Restaurant located in the Eastland Place Shopping Center at 943 N. Green River Road Evansville IN, 47715-2418. 

In March, The Alabama Department of Health alerted customers of McDonald’s, located at 2000 McFarland Blvd, Northport that they may have been exposed to hepatitis A virus through an infected employee. The health department administered vaccines to hundreds of people who had eaten food from the restaurant during the time that the infected employee worked.   Nearly 1,000 customers received hepatitis A vaccines.

And, in February, the Central District (Idaho) Health Department announced that an employee at the Cheesecake Factory on Milwaukee Avenue in Boise Idaho might have exposed some diners at the restaurant to Hepatitis A between December 13, 2011 and January 22, 2012.