Hepatitis A Reported At Valley Restaurant

Thu., June 11, 1998

From Staff Reports

Hepatitis A continues to plague Spokane this year, with a report Wednesday that a food handler at a Taco Time restaurant had the disease.

The Spokane Regional Health District said people who ate at the Taco Time in the Spokane Valley Mall on May 30-31 were potentially exposed.

The foods at risk of transmitting hepatitis A are any meal containing uncooked tomatoes and fresh, chopped vegetable sauce, known as pico sauce, from the salsa bar.

People who consumed those foods should get shots of immune globulin by Sunday in order for it to be effective, agency officials said.

The health district will provide immune globulin at the Spokane County Public Health Building, 1101 W. College Ave., today from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The fees for the shots range from $20 to $44, officials said.

Taco Time management has told health department officials that they will pay the cost of the shots for patrons.

Hepatitis A is highly contagious. It is passed through the fecal-oral route and often can be controlled through proper hand-washing.

Symptoms include fatigue, nausea, diarrhea and jaundice.

At least 220 cases of the flu-like liver disease have been confirmed in Spokane County this year, compared with 190 cases in all of 1997.

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