Restaurant Diners Flock For Shots Demand High, Supply Low For Drug To Counteract Possible Hepatitis A Infection From Food Handlers

A second food handler from Players and Spectators tested positive for hepatitis A, but no other cases have been traced to the Valley restaurant, health officials said Wednesday.

Still, people stretched out the door of the Spokane Regional Health District office Wednesday morning, trying to get one of the 500 available doses of immune globulin.

The district exhausted its supply by late morning.

Immune globulin protects against hepatitis A if given to people within 14 days of exposure.

The medicine is in short supply nationwide.

The health district is contacting other Washington counties, Idaho and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta in its search for more doses.

“We seem to be beating the bushes and turning up more,” said Dr. Kim Thorburn, health officer for the district.

Another 500 doses shipped from Clark County should be available today.

A food worker at Players and Spectators on East Sprague was diagnosed with hepatitis A over the weekend. Tests confirmed Wednesday that a second worker had the virus, Thorburn said.

Both workers became sick at the same time, so the district is still recommending immune globulin shots for anyone who ate at the restaurant from Jan. 1 through Jan. 5.

Anyone who ate at the restaurant before New Year’s Day will no longer be helped by immune globulin if exposed to the virus.

H.T. Higgins, president of the company that owns Players and Spectators, said all his employees will be vaccinated against hepatitis A unless they have a medical excuse.

The company is paying for the employee vaccinations and immune globulin shots, and immune globulin shots for customers.

“It really is a tragedy,” Higgins said. “If there’s one thing I want to come out of this that is positive, it’s that restaurants understand the magnitude of this and make a commitment to vaccinations. It is the right thing to do.”

Health officials recommend that people get vaccinated against hepatitis A. At least 31 cases have been identified so far this year. Last year, 183 people came down with the virus, the largest number since the last large outbreak in 1988.

Hepatitis A is considered the least serious of the five types of hepatitis. Symptoms include yellowing of the skin or eyes, fatigue, diarrhea, nausea and loss of appetite.

But in people with underlying liver conditions, hepatitis A can be extremely serious. The disease causes about 100 deaths a year nationwide.

A Spokane teenager suffered liver failure about two weeks ago after contracting hepatitis A. The health district could not release any other information because of patient confidentiality, epidemiologist Bill Edstrom said.

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