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CDC: Possible hepatitis A exposure at South Carolina restaurant
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Customers may have been exposed to hepatitis A at a Hilton Head, S.C., restaurant after a food worker tested positive for the infection, according to the CDC.
The CDC and the South Carolina Department of Health are working together to warn customers and staff who visited or ate at Hudson’s Seafood House on the Docks in Hilton Head Island on the evening of Feb. 15.
Health officials are urging customers and employees who visited the restaurant or ate food served between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. to contact their health care provider to receive post-exposure treatment. However, to be effective, the vaccine must be administered within 14 days of exposure, no later than March 1.
According to the CDC, the severity of illness from hepatitis A infection can range from mild, lasting a few weeks, to severe, lasting months. The infection can be fatal.
“Hepatitis A is usually spread when a person ingests fecal matter — even in microscopic amounts — from contact with objects, food, or drinks contaminated by the feces, or stool, of an infected person,” health officials stated in a press release. “Given health codes and sanitary procedures in restaurants, most people do not get sick when a food worker has hepatitis A. However, it’s important that those who ate at this restaurant to see their health care provider within 14 days and get vaccinated as recommended by CDC unless already vaccinated.”
Customers who may be been exposed are encouraged to call the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control at 800-868-0404.