In November 2017, the Kentucky Department for Public Health identified an outbreak of acute Hepatitis A (HEP A). The increase in cases observed in Kentucky exceeded the 10-year average of reported hepatitis A cases. Several cases were been linked to outbreaks in California, Utah, and Michigan. Primary risk factors remain illicit drug use and homelessness.
By the Spring of 2018, Kentucky appeared to be the epicenter of a full-blown Hepatitis A Outbreak as most of the surrounding states were affected.
According to the KY Cabinet for Health and Family Services, there were 5,001 identified cases of which 2411 were hospitalized resulting in a total of 62 deaths.
A common source for HEP A outbreak in restaurants is raw and undercooked shellfish harvested from polluted waters. Ready-to-eat foods can be contaminated when handled by a person who is shedding the virus. Cold cuts and sandwiches, fresh-squeezed juices, raw fruits and vegetables, and salads have also been implicated in HEP A outbreaks. Water can also be contaminated from sewage or other sources of human feces.
Food-service workers are at a higher risk than workers in many other industries, since their daily responsibilities include directly handling food and drink, person-to-person contact when serving meals and drinks to guests, and interacting with discarded food items that a HEP A individual touched or partially eaten.
Contamination of food by infected workers in restaurants is also a source of HEP A infection. The single, most critical way that food handlers can prevent the spread of HEP A is to wash hands thoroughly and often — upon arriving at work, after using the toilet, after breaks, and at many other times during food preparation. According to an article titled Taking Hepatitis A Off Restaurant Menus in 2019 in Precisionvaccinations.com, 19 restaurant chains had issued Hepatitis A alerts related to infected staff.
As a connoisseur of many of these fine establishments listed, I can personally note that I had eaten at 17 of these 19 restaurants during this period.
The source of most reported foodborne Hepatitis A outbreaks has been HEP A-infected food handlers present at the point of sale (such as in a restaurant) or who prepare food for other types of social events A single HEP A-infected food handler can transmit HEP A to dozens or even hundreds of persons and cause a substantial economic burden to restaurant owners, and the public health.
Infected people who don’t wash their hands well after using the restroom can easily pass the virus along to whatever or whomever they touch. If they prepare or serve food, they could expose anyone that eats the food, but this is why food handlers should be required to wear disposable plastic, nitrile, vinyl, or latex gloves.
The primary risk factors for spreading Hepatitis A remains to be illicit drug use, homelessness, and the transmission of bodily fluids. Restaurant employees can also spread the disease if they do not practice proper hygiene.
One of the most at-risk groups for contracting Hepatitis A is people who use intravenous drugs, and in some communities, there is an overlap between intravenous drug users and food-service workers.
The restaurant arm of the food-service industry has a long, sordid relationship with substance abuse and substance abuse disorders.
In 2015, a study conducted by The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMSHA) found the foodservice and hospitality industry to HEP A the highest rates of substance use disorders and the third-highest rate of heavy alcohol use of all employment sectors.
Populations, like restaurant and food-service workers, who suffer from widespread substance abuse and substance abuse disorders typically, see a correlated spike in drug and alcohol-related illnesses, including Hepatitis A. When the aforementioned illnesses are communicable by touch alone, their impact can be disastrous, devastating entire communities and states, much like the 2018 Hepatitis outbreak witnessed in 10 states.
Though the scope of impact from the Hepatitis A outbreak varies from state to state, the ease of transmission has made this Hepatitis A outbreak especially impactful in a short period.
The economic costs of a Hepatitis A Outbreak can be devastating to a restaurateur, franchisee, or investor. With the invention of social media today, news of an outbreak within your restaurant can travel fast, which can destroy customer loyalty and future revenues that can take months and even years to recover.
For instance, do you remember all the Chi-Chi’s restaurants? Well, they went bankrupt in the United States and Canada following a Hepatitis A outbreak in 2003 and that was before social media.
So how can a restaurateur or franchisee better prepare for an outbreak, and better mitigate the losses of Hepatitis A outbreak within one of their restaurants?
Well, the best way to prevent Hepatitis A infection is to get vaccinated however with employee turnover in the foodservice industry being extremely high it is impractical and too cost prohibited when more than half of your staff won’t even be employed with them a few months later.
Therefore restaurant management must instead enforce good proper hygiene and food handling standards to prevent the spread of this disease. They should proactively reach out to your local and state health department and get to know their role once a Hepatitis A outbreak has been identified in a restaurant.
They should create a crisis management plan and the appropriate policies to handle a Hepatitis A outbreak. Then remember to train your management team on the importance of food Safety and then train your employees while taking this very seriously.
Then finally remember with the employee worker shortage, restaurant managers must resist the urge to hire warm bodies, and instead properly vet their employees, and select those with good personal hygiene.
For instance, if an applicant has track marks on their arms from intravenous drug use, you may want to pass, because that is the first thing I look for when I pull into a drive-thru, and I have been known to keep on driving.
If this article has now scarred you for life or you to the point that you are now considering never eating out ever again, I would encourage you to get vaccinated, and you will never be infected by HEP A in the future.
Be Safe My Friends