ALERT: Another Hepatitis A Scare Involving Area Fast Food Worker

WITZ RADIO NEWS IS AN AFFILIATE OF NETWORK INDIANA 

GREENE COUNTY -- A restaurant worker in Greene County made food while infected with hepatitis A.

The person worked at a Papa John's off State Road 54 in Linton, reports WEVV-TV in Evansville.

13 people in Greene County and more than 2,100 people statewide have gotten hepatitis A since Nov. 2017, when the Indiana State Dept. of Health declared a statewide epidemic.

Since then, at least 2,100 Hoosiers have been diagnosed with hepatitis A. ISDH says four of those people died.

Hepatitis A is a viral infection of the liver. It's often spread when someone consumes food or drinks prepared by someone who is infected. It can also be transmitted through personal contact with a sick person, including sex.

Symptoms may take 15 and 50 days to appear and include:

- Abdominal pain or discomfort, especially on the upper right side beneath your lower ribs (by your liver)

- Clay-colored bowel movements

- Dark urine

- Fatigue

- Intense itching

- Joint pain

- Loss of appetite

- Low-grade fever

- Sudden nausea and vomiting

- Yellowing of the skin and the whites of your eyes (jaundice)

The best way to avoid hepatitis A is by washing hands after using the bathroom, changing diapers, and before preparing or eating food. Health officials also encourage people to get the hepatitis A vaccine.