5,000 restaurant customers face shots after hepatitis A outbreak

“This single current case of hepatitis A in an employee at the Waffle House in Clinton appears to be the result of, not the cause of the hepatitis A outbreak in Campbell County,” said Dr. Paul Erwin, director of the East Tennessee Regional Health Office.

Seventeen cases of hepatitis A, a viral liver disease that can be spread through poor hygiene, have been confirmed in recent weeks. Although none experienced life-threatening symptoms, two people were hospitalized in LaFollette, about 30 miles northwest of Knoxville. Thirteen victims were from Campbell County and three from Scott County while the Waffle House food server is from Anderson County.

Officials suspect all were infected at a LaFollette restaurant in March, but no employees at that restaurant or any other restaurant in Campbell County has yet tested positive for the virus. It can take up to a month before an exposed person becomes sick.

“Unfortunately, because it covers such a large block of time, they (the victims) have eaten at several restaurants,” said Carole Martin, spokeswoman for the regional health office. “There was one that was named probably more often than any of the others. However, until we can get some type of confirmation, we just can’t release that (restaurant’s identity).”

Meanwhile, officials hoped to prevent the disease’s spread by offering free immune serum globulin shots to anyone potentially exposed at the Clinton Waffle House from April 5-15. The restaurant estimates it served as many as 5,000 people during the period.

“We have plenty (of serum) and we don’t anticipate running out,” Martin said.

The free clinic will be offered through Thursday at the Tennessee National Guard Armory in Clinton, about 13 miles northwest of Knoxville.

The highest risk is to anyone eating uncooked foods, including salads and hamburger garnishes and toppings, or iced drinks, officials said. Symptoms include mild fever, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, tiredness, dark urine and jaundice.

In 2003, a hepatitis A outbreak made more than 300 people sick, including one death, in the Knoxville area, North Carolina and Georgia when contaminated green onions from Mexico was served in chain restaurants.

“Unfortunately they got some bad produce,” Martin said. “With this, we cannot find a food source. All the food has tested OK.”