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Yikes. I think I've seen a few IHOPs you may need to avoid then, fabbs
From tainted frozen berries and contaminated candies, to infected restaurant workers handling food, the threat from hepa is A is causing alarm in communities across the country.
The virus, which is spread from person to person or in food-borne outbreaks, causes a highly contagious liver disease that can be fatal. Many people think it only affects the homeless or drug users, but anyone who isn’t vaccinated can be infected when exposed to contaminated food or drink.
This month alone, Florida and the city of Philadelphia have both declared public health emergencies after seeing a e in cases. The Minnesota Department of Health declared an outbreak of hepa is A in multiple counties on Thursday. Other states are concerned, too.
Florida took the step to “alert the public to this serious illness and prevent further spread," said the state’s Surgeon General Dr. Scott Rivkees in a statement. Through the end of July, 2,034 hepa is A cases were reported in Florida, or more than in all of last year alone, with 17 counties “critically impacted.”
In Philadelphia, the virus is “spreading rapidly,” with 154 cases so far this year, according to the city’s health commissioner. About two-thirds of the cases involved drug users. Minnesota is reporting 23 cases in nine counties.
Who is at risk for hepa is A?
Across the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been monitoring “widespread outbreaks” of hepa is A, with 23,638 cases and 233 deaths in 29 states since 2016.
“When thousands of people are infected with the virus that could eventually kill you, that’s an epidemic that’s worrisome,” Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious disease expert and director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told TODAY.
“The average person is at risk by walking into a restaurant where a food handler who has hepa is A doesn’t adequately wash their hands and then makes and serves food.”
The virus is transmitted primarily by the fecal-oral route: It’s shed in the stool of infected people, who can carry it on their hands after going to the bathroom. If they prepare a salad, touch food on a plate or even hand out menus, they can then infect restaurant patrons. The virus is “very hardy” and lives well on surfaces, Offit said.
More than a dozen restaurant workers in Florida have been infected with hepa is A so far this year, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported, which may be particularly worrisome in a state that attracts tourists from all over the country and the world.
“Each restaurant worker is potentially exposing hundreds or thousands of people to hepa is,” William D. Marler, a food safety lawyer, told the newspaper.
“They don’t know they’ve been exposed and now they go back home and expose people there.”
Still, the Florida Department of Health said less than 5% of hepa is A cases have been identified among food workers and there haven’t been any incidents so far of a food worker transmitting the virus to a restaurant patron.
But infected food workers continue to cause concern. Eateries in Georgia, Virginia, Missouri and Idaho are just some of the places where contagious employees may have recently put customers at risk.
The National Restaurant Association has taken notice, recommending that restaurants encourage employees to get vaccinated, educate them about the virus and monitor them for symptoms.
Frozen berries and produce imported from countries where there isn’t a great separation between sewage and drinkable water are another worry, Offit said. The fruits and vegetables can be sprayed with water that contains hepa is A and be contaminated that way. The latest incident happened in June when frozen blackberries were recalled over contamination fears.
An outbreak of hepa is A linked to smoothies made with frozen strawberries from Egypt sickened 70 people in 2016.
Still, the people most at risk are the homeless and drug users, with the homelessness issue most likely to blame for the e in cases in recent years, Offit said. But that may fuel more infections since people in this population often gravitate toward lower-skill work, including the restaurant industry — particularly fast food, Marler told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Hep A symptoms and treatment:
Symptoms usually start within 28 days of exposure, but may take up to 50 days to show up. They include:
Fever
Fatigue
Loss of appe e
Nausea
Vomiting
Abdominal pain
Dark urine
Diarrhea
Clay-colored stools
Joint pain
Jaundice
There is no specific treatment other than rest, adequate nutrition, and fluids, according to the CDC. Unvaccinated people who know they may have recently been exposed to the virus should get the hepa is A vaccine or a shot of immune globulin to prevent severe illness. Most people who are infected get better over time, but may need to be hospitalized.
How to protect yourself:
Get the vaccine: The only way to be truly protected is to be vaccinated. Hepa is A rates in the U.S. have fallen by more than 95% since hepa is A vaccine first became available in 1995, the CDC noted. The vaccine is given in two shots, six to 18 months apart.
The CDC recommends that all children be vaccinated, with the first dose given at 1-2 years of age. In June, the agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices also advised that kids 18 years old and younger who haven’t already received the vaccine should get it at any age.
Adults wishing to obtain immunity can get the vaccine at any time. “There’s no down side to getting it, it’s a safe vaccine,” Offit said. The CDC does not recommend booster doses, but getting extra doses is not harmful, it noted. People who have already had hepa is A in the past won’t be infected again.
Practice good hand hygiene: It’s key to wash your hands with soap and running water for at least 20 seconds before preparing, serving or eating food. The virus is common in places where there are poor sanitary conditions or poor personal hygiene. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers do not kill the Hepa is A virus.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/health-news/hidden-epidemic-puts-restaurant-goers-at-risk-how-to-protect-yourself/ar-AAFxphj?ocid=spartandhp
Last edited by MultiTroll; 08-08-2019 at 05:09 PM.
Yikes. I think I've seen a few IHOPs you may need to avoid then, fabbs
hiv/aids is the least of all concerns when it comes to blood-borne pathogens. hep c and the like live outside the body up to, i believe, 6 weeks whereas hiv/aids dies basically the minute it's outside the body.
Not only IHOPs but even very high end restaurants. SoCal, and I'm assuming elsewhere is loaded with minimum wage, often illegal (thus will work for min or below) kitchen help. Not saying they are not hygenic. Am saying they are unmotivated. For that matter member when the hidden cameras caught vindictive or just flat out asshole waiters and kitchen staff spitting in food and drinks, etc? Ya restaurants are scary. I recommend eating at known places and getting to know the owners and/or managers very well. Some of my friends won't eat at buffets where community scoopers are used.
If the bathroom is dirty at the restaurant, do not eat there.
Are you vaccinated?
If they were lifetime shots, yes.
So you're vaccinated against hep A.
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