Mcdonald’s Bosses Contract Hepatitis On Trip

Five of 26 McDonald’s restaurant managers from the Puget Sound area came down with hepatitis A after a trip to Mexico last month, the state Department of Health said Tuesday.

The managers apparently contracted the disease by either eating contaminated, uncooked food such as salads or drinking contaminated water in Baja, said state epidemiologist Dr. John Kobayashi.

The managers worked at 21 franchise McDonald’s restaurants in Snohomish, Skagit and Island counties. People who ate at the restaurants are not at risk, Kobayashi said.

“All the involved restaurants have been inspected, and it’s not felt that there’s a hazard to patrons,” Kobayashi said.

McDonald’s, like most chain restaurants, operates under strict sanitary rules and serves mostly cooked foods, health officials noted.

About 1,000 people - mostly co-workers and relatives - who had close contact with the managers were advised to get gamma globulin immunization shots.