McDonalds Hepatitis Scare: Infected Employee Exposed Thousands

[Stuart G]

Source: Huffington Post, AP

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (AP) -- Authorities in northwestern Illinois are trying to figure out why a case of hepatitis A in a McDonald's food handler went unreported for more than three weeks.

An estimated 10,000 people who ate at a McDonald's in Milan are being urged to get preventive treatment for the virus, which can cause fever and abdominal pain.

At least 20 cases of hepatitis A have been confirmed in five Illinois counties, said Rock Island County Health Department spokeswoman Theresa Foes.

An infected McDonald's employee came to work on seven days in July, possibly spreading the virus to patrons. Another McDonald's worker was diagnosed June 17, but health officials didn't know about that case until July 13, said Illinois Department of Public Health spokeswoman Melaney Arnold.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/20/mcdonalds-hepatitis-scare_n_241335.html

[Oceansaway]

1. heres a linky.....

http://www.qconline.com/index.php

[shadowknows69]

2. Reason #4372 I don't eat there anymore.

[WriteDown]

3. Because the workers have Hep?

:shrug:

[shadowknows69]

32. Well I said there were 4371 other reasons too.

But, yeah, hepatitis is something I'd kind of like to avoid. Along with the inevitable Big Mac heart attack.

[lilymidnite]

8. there's a lot of ...

pigs out there. Yuck.

[Christa]

19. What do you mean with pigs? NT

[NickB79]

44. I'd guess pigs = people who don't wash their hands after taking a crap

Hep. A is spread by the oral-fecal route.

[ohio2007]

53. good help is hard to find..where did they dig that crew up ?

[SkyDaddy7]

9. I have heard all kinds of horror stories...

Of what folks who work at these fast food joints do to the food of folks who give them a hard time in the drive through...I laugh at people who try to argue and command the folks in the drive through around as if they work for them! I no longer eat fast food for as many reasons you do not but when I did I would cancel my order if I was in a car with friends who were being rude to the folks working the drive through. I do not care if they deserve to be yelled at or complained to THEY HAVE YOUR FOOD!!! A point I could not get across to some of my more hard headed friends!

It disgust me to even think about what could be done to one's burger by an angry teenager who really could care less about anything but revenge at you, his boss, his parents, his girlfriend or all of the above! Of course, it could easily be a "she" as well!

[WriteDown]

10. Fast food?

Try any food establishment. Try watching a movie called "Waiting."

[SkyDaddy7]

39. This is very true!!!

:puke:

[juno jones]

43. Waiting is funny.

But is an exaggeration. I have been a restaurant cook for over twenty years and I find the movie hilarious. But it is a representation of what we dream of doing, not what we actually do. (Except for that 'Welcome to the Thunderdome' part. We are, for the most part, a bunch of crazies who have senses of humor that could peel paint. That's why I like it.)

On the other hand, fast food employees are not being paid enough to give a shit about other people. We might want to take that up with the top 1% in this country who own all that stuff.

On edit: My dream is to be a wise old dishwasher someday ;)...

[ecstatic]

4. My mom said when she worked at the hospital,

the majority of people who came in with Hep A worked at restaurants. :puke:

[KansDem]

5. I wonder what kind of health insurance this employee had...

An infected McDonald's employee came to work on seven days in July, possibly spreading the virus to patrons. Another McDonald's worker was diagnosed June 17, but health officials didn't know about that case until July 13...

I wonder why this employee didn't seek help earlier.

And why did a case diagnosed on June 17 come to the attention of health officials almost a month later? Something doesn't smell right here and it isn't the rancid goo

on edit: Anyone know what kind of health insurance McDonald's provides for its employees?

[stray cat]

7. maybe someone who doesn't believe in vaccinations?

[closeupready]

20. $30 or more per dose vaccination?

That's almost an entire day's take home for him/fast food workers. Unless the illness is fatal, not going to be worth it to someone making so little.

[ingac70]

22. Health Departments give the vaccines....

at free or reduced prices.

[closeupready]

27. Is that common knowledge? I didn't know that; why should I know that?

Heck, I don't need it, but if I were vulnerable to Hep A and I had no health insurance, 1) I wouldn't know that a vaccination was free or reduced price at the health department, and 2) I wouldn't know where to go to get that done. For the kind of employee making min wage with no health insurance and no PCP, it's doubtful they are going to bet better-informed than I am or to go the lengths necessary in order to surmount these obstacles.

[ingac70]

28. I guess it isn't common knowledge...

But my Mom took me there for my shots when I was 5 so I could start school. Our insurance didn't cover vaccines. And we were middle class, you don't have to be poor.

Hell, my sister got free birth control pills and an exam by a doctor from the Health Dept. when we were teenagers.

[depakid]

42. Things like this would be common knowledge if there were media regulation

that required PSA's as a condition of license renewal.

[closeupready]

47. Yes! I completely agree.

There are certainly many people who, for numerous reasons, are uninformed about their own health care options. PSA's are a terrific way of spreading the word.

[MadMaddie]

55. Yea but if we did that the "Reich Wing" nuts would be

screaming about socialism. Even though they frequent these places at a high rate.

[WriteDown]

30. Yeah, I got mine for free before I headed to Nicaragua

years ago.

[pitohui]

35. it's a series of vax, so you miss more than one day's pay, regardless of price

i rec'd the first dose in the hep a series before i went to africa for the first time but was told i had to get updates, the next one coming in 6 months, and i don't think the price was v. hi, however, in the real world, who has time for a SERIES of vaccinations? i have never gone back for the rest, there is just never time for this, if it was hiv/aids or something i would but for hep a i'll take my chances

a friend of mine who teaches in the field tells me that the most of the benefit comes from receiving the first jab but i'm told his view a minority one (as of 2005 maybe it's different now?)

even if the health dept was handing out the vaccine for zero cost, how many days pay you want to miss to visit the clinic

i waited FOUR HOURS to receive my jabs the first time and only hung around because i was required to get one of them to even be allowed entrance to the country in question (yellow fever) -- also round trip driving time for me was two hours -- an hour each way -- so yeah a whole day has to be given to this

[ingac70]

40. I've waited that long in regular doctor's offices...

Fortunately for fast food workers, most establishments have a day and night shift, and most managers are flexible about moving around shifts.

It sucks the wait is so long, but cost is no excuse when you can go to the health dept.

[pitohui]

50. i said time was the reason, not cost -- because more than one jab is required

you must be younger than i, but there comes a time of life when you actually have to sleep, and spending all day waiting for medical care, then working all night simply doesn't work out

and what if the worker was a single parent/caregiver to their own aged parents or something like that?

if it was one jab, it's way different than when it's three jabs

at the end of the day, reality is going to triumph -- three jabs is not practical even if they're paying YOU (unless they're paying you as much/more than you'd get from the lost work)

[ingac70]

52. I am of the mind....

that restaurants should make arrangements for their employees to get these vaccines as a condition of continued employment.

[JonQ]

21. I heard they cause autism . . .

[pitohui]

36. you never heard hep a vax caused autism

at least keep your conspiracy theories straight!!! that supposedly autism vax is a childhood thing and entirely discredited to my mind anyway

[JonQ]

38. Also they have chemcials in them, put in there by the government

that make people more docile.

Chemicals!

[uppityperson]

41. Not with enough Vitamin D!

[TrogL]

37. Oh God don't start that crap again

http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jun/06-why-does-vaccine-autism-controversy-live-on

[jaxx]

12. The employee probably didn't have any sick time.

Most people can't afford to miss work, so they come in and spread the germs. That ought to be addressed in the wellness issues too.

[KansDem]

13. I wondered that myself...

Seven days infecting the work environment and customers. Probably couldn't afford time off from work...

[WriteDown]

14. Apparently, he had so little time...

He could not even wash his hands or clean properly :).

[notadmblnd]

48. none

[Rebubula]

6. LOL

Queue up the self righteous posts about how horrible fast food is and how awful it tastes\is for you.

Having a Big Mac attack right now - hold the Hep A.

[dipsydoodle]

11. Might be worth checking to see

what proportuon of your population are carryng B or C both of which are far more serious.

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. Gee, considering how well our health system works, he could have taken two paid weeks off to heal up

and McDonald's would have welcomed him back with a hearty handshake and a medal for being patriotic enough to stay home when he was sick, to say nothing of covering all his medical costs.

Thank God for the American health system!

[Auggie]

16. McVirus

Maybe it's coincidence, but since I've stayed out of fast food restaurants my rate of catching colds and flu has greatly diminished.

[Javaman]

17. Let's think this through, okay? Why didn't the worker get medical help?

So McDonald's pays minimum. Not knowing the economic circumstances of the worker, I would bet that this person works another job as well, because it's impossible to survive on what we pay as minimum wage in this nation if you only have one job.

So the person probably works two jobs. This person probably takes the bus to these jobs, because once again, the price of owning a vehicle (even uninsured) takes a huge chunk out of a persons pocket working minimum wage.

So figure in travel time to and from both jobs.

Then think about this persons living expenses and the time it takes to shop for food (most likely eating fast food or some sort of quickie meal solely consisting of bread or ramen because they can't afford food at the market).

Then suppose this is a female with a child or children. They would take up what ever time she has left and whatever remaining money she has to feed them.

Or suppose this person is an addict of some sort. The time needed to take off from work for that treatment would leave the person money poor or destitute. (if they even wanted treatment, because their reality really does suck)

There are so many variables here regarding a low paid worker trying to make ends meet then trying to find the time to actually get to a doctor to get treated, THEN be able to afford the co-pay if she actually has health insurance or be able to pay anything if she has none.

Our food service industry is staffed by people who are at the lowest rung in our society with no leg up. The days of "kids-working-at-McDonald's-as-an-after-school-job" is a thing of the past, especially in todays economic climate.

If people honestly believe that there is no permanent class system in this nation they are 1) republicans 2)republicans who still willing believe in the horatio alger bullshit 3) anyone who has never been at the bottom 4) anyone who HAS been at the bottom and failed to look around at those around them 5) are willingly ignorant and wish to keep their fingers in their ears while singing something from the sound of music (I refer you to the #1 and #2)

In this day in age, with all the colossal problems we have in this nation caused by 30+ years of republican dismantling of our society and increasing the gab to tragic proportions between the rich and the poor, don't complain or think it mysterious as to why this person can work knowing they have hep.

This shit doesn't happen out of the blue.

[WriteDown]

26. Easier equation...

This person is a teenager who doesn't clean themselves well.

[Posteritatis]

45. Some other problems, too..

McD's games pay in some places so that they're paying less than minimum. In my neck of the woods they paid minimum and then ate about a third of that for additional fees and whatnot for the first year of employment; I think they got slapped down about it, but I'm not sure.

Also, a lot of employers simply don't allow their employees to be sick, which I find especially irritating. (On the other hand, the swine flu scare, whether justified or not, is getting people around here to loosen up on that.)

[Korsa]

18. Dude...o.O

Wow, that's just horrible! A case from June 17 took until July to be found out? Jebus! That's scary!!

I love fast food, especially McDonald's. But, I do agree with the poster who said that they won't be rude to the drive-thru workers, and that they will even cancel an order if the people in their car are being rude. It's the same reason I don't send food back when I go to a sit-down restaurant if something isn't the way I like it.

I'd rather have my bacon or my steak a little tough, than have them send it back right with a topping of someone's spit or whatnot on it. Can we say ew? Totally not worth the hassle, and definitely not worth being rude for. If you ask me. :p

But, I really wonder about this McDonald's! Wow, I don't know. Even if they took care of the problem before re-opening (and I am sure they did) if I lived there...I wouldn't ever go back. :p I bet they lose customers!

[sallylou666]

23. Eating a home

Yet another reason to eat at home. It's hard enough just dodging recalled food.

[HopeHoops]

24. "Do you want super-sized Hepatitis with that order?"

The not-so-happy meal.

[Deja Q]

34. Next month's happy meal will make up for it -- they'll give away pets...

[Historic NY]

25. Note to self...no fast food next week in Illinois....its not healthy any way.

[ingac70]

29. I think health cards...

for food workers should be required, like they did after Typhoid Mary.

[kestrel91316]

31. Things like this will get more and more common as budgets for such

nonsensical, wasteful, BigGubmintish things as public health go by the wayside.

Maybe we should just let the free market solve the problem.

:sarcasm:

[Deja Q]

33. "I would like a Big Mac, Cherry McPie, and a large order of hepatitis, please. Hep 'C' if possible."

:9

:hurts:

[JackBeck]

56. You posses an unfortunate understanding of how Hepatitis C is transmitted.

I hope you are content in the amount of misinformation you spread in your snarky post.

The same amount of laziness was embraced when talking about the spread of HIV.

Congratulations. You should find some time to educate yourself, since you fail to ackowledge when others have shown you the facts.

[Critters2]

46. I've had hep A. Probably from a restaurant, my doctor said.

I don't even know when I had it. I gave blood a couple of years ago, and the blood center called me and said they had discarded my blood because it tested positive for hep A, and that I should see my doctor. So, I did...absolutely sure they were mistaken. But no, she confirmed that I had had hep (but was over it by then). Apparently, in most people the symptoms are those of a bad stomach flu--vomiting, fever, chills--that lasts for a couple of days. I guess it can be quite serious in people with existing liver problems or compromised immune systems. But for me, I had it without even knowing it.


And now I wonder....once I've had it, am I immune? Hm. I should do some googling.

[pitohui]

51. yeah i think you're immune now

another reason i didn't bother with getting the booster series, a large minority of the pop. has already had it, gotten over, and doesn't have to worry about it

that said, i know someone who died of it, "compromised" immune system is a meaningless term that can include just being older, since older people don't have the immune system of youth and that was apparently what happened to him

what do you do? never go anywhere? never eat? you might as well be dead anyway if you're going to live in fear of these things...

[mitchum]

49. I am currently undergoing treatment for Hep C...

treatment that I could not possibly afford without my very good health insurance.
I am very fortunate.
I urge everyone to get screened; it is a killer if left untreated.

[Wednesdays]

54. K&R

:kick: