Duncan Wal-Mart customers are being urged by health officials to have vaccinations against hepatitis A after a food handler at the store fell ill with the disease.
The alert, issued by Vancouver Island Health Authority, applies to people who ate certain foods in recent weeks from the store’s delicatessen, bought when the food handler was on duty.
Anyone who ate ready-to-eat food — including salads, sliced cheese, meat or hot items like chicken wings — between Dec. 30 and Jan. 4, or meat or cheese sliced at the deli counter from Jan. 5 to Jan. 10, should be vaccinated.
Anyone who still has food bought from the deli between Dec. 20 and Jan. 4, or cheese or meat sliced at the counter between Jan. 5 and Jan. 10 should throw it out.
The alert does not apply to other foods bought from the grocery department or the McDonald’s restaurant in the store.
Anyone who ate food from the deli between Dec. 20 and Dec. 30 may have been exposed to hepatitis A, but it is too late for a vaccination to work. Instead, they should watch for symptoms.
Hepatitis A is an infection of the liver caused by a virus, typically spread through the feces of infected people. Symptoms can include fever, tiredness, loss of appetite, vomiting and abdominal pain followed days later by dark-coloured urine, light-coloured stools and jaundice.
Dr. Dee Hoyano, medical health officer, said hepatitis A is rarely life-threatening unless a person already has an underlying liver condition. But it can make even a healthy person very sick for about two weeks.
Anyone experiencing the symptoms should stay at home and contact a doctor.
The alert follows a surge in the number of hepatitis A cases in the Cowichan Valley, 14 in total since October. Normally, B.C. records less than 50 cases per year. The Cowichan cases have been restricted within families and all the victims are recovering.
The store reopened Thursday afternoon after it had been closed for a day to be disinfected.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Karin Campbell said from Ontario that vaccinations been ordered for all deli staff. Other store staff can be vaccinated on a voluntary basis.
All products that might have been contaminated have been removed from the store, Campbell said. “All the products in our store right now, customers can be assured they are safe to purchase,” she said.
The one-shot vaccinations, which are free, will be available for four days at the Island Savings Centre, 2687 James St., Duncan, starting Friday. Vaccination times are from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m Friday and Monday, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Vaccinations will also be available in Victoria at the drop-in Public Health Unit, 1947 Cook St. on Saturday and Sunday between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Doors will be locked but patients should ring the bell.
rwatts@timescolonist.com
More information is available on the Vancouver Island Health Authority website at viha.ca.
Article source: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Health+alert+issued+Duncan+Mart+over+hepatitis+scare/4109873/story.html
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