Twenty-six people are hospitalized and one person is dead in a hepatitis A outbreak linked to Famous Anthony’s restaurants in Virginia. Fatalities from hepatitis A are rare, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This is the first time a death has been reported in association with a recent hepatitis A outbreak, WSLS News reported.
Contact the Pritzker Hageman Hepatitis Team
Phone: 1-888-377-8900 | Text: 1-612-261-0856
Dr. Cynthia Morrow, health director for the Roanoke & Alleghany Health Districts told WSLS that there is a high rate of severe disease associated with this outbreak. Of the 37 people sickened, 26 have been hospitalized.
Hepatitis A is a virus that causes an infection of the liver. A vaccine given within two weeks of exposure can prevent illness. The Roanoke City Health Department, located at 1502 Williamson Road, is offering the vaccine on Thursday, October 21 from 4 to 6 p.m. and on Friday, October 22 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1 to 4 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome, appointments aren’t necessary.
In hepatitis A outbreaks associated with restaurants, transmission usually occurs when an infected food handler uses the bathroom and does not wash hands properly. This outbreak has been linked to a Famous Anthony’s employee with a hepatitis A infection who worked at three of the restaurant’s locations. Customers who ate at any of the following Famous Anthony’s locations between August 10 and August 26 could have been exposed:
- 2221 Crystal Springs Ave. SW
- 4913 Grandin Road SW
- 6499 Williamson Road in the Brookside Shopping Center
Symptoms of a Hepatitis A infection can take as long as 50 days to develop. They include yellowing of the skin or eyes, decreased appetite, abdominal cramps, nausea, fever, fatigue, dark urine, and clay-colored stools. Without treatment, these symptoms can last weeks or months.
If you have been sickened in this outbreak and would like a free consultation with Hepatitis A lawyers at Pritzker Hageman, please contact our team by calling 1-888-377-8900, sending a text to 612-261-0856, or by completing the form below. There is no obligation and we don’t get paid unless we win.
