Anyone know anything about Hepatitis?

[bubba_fett]

I work in a restaurant, and today we were just informed of a Hepatitis outbreak among some Sysco products, namely green onions. Well, we didn't know this until tonight, after everyone had been chowing down on some complimentary dip in the kitchen which had green onions in it.

We are throwing out all products with green onions in them in the restaurant tomorrow morning.

Anyway, I'm not very worried, I'm sure my chances of getting anything are astronomical, and even if I did get infected I'm sure Sysco would end up paying out the ass in lawsuits, so I should be ok financially in the future... :evilgrin:

Anyway, my question to you folks out there is how astronomical are my chances? How the hell can Hetpatitis be carried on a green onion, anyway?

[Deja Q]

1. x

x

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

2. Hepatitis can be carried on anything which was touched by

a person with the infection on his hands, or was washed in contaminated water.

Your chances are probably pretty small. They must handle tons of green onions at Sysco, and probably one person came up with the germs.

Still, hepatitis is nothing to laugh at. Almost killed me.

[HEyHEY]

3. Booker T and the MG'S may know they're green onion experts!

[Catshrink]

4. Heck, I have a titer for Hep and didn't know it

I had to get checked for AIDS once because a dental tech stabbed herself on a file they'd used on my root canal. It came back negative but they said I had a titer for Hepatitis and had apparently had it at some point.

Maybe once in my previous life as a researcher I was exposed to something I didn't know about. Supposedly I'm immune now, but don't think I'll risk anything.

You're probably okay.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

7. I got it from rat experiments too... a titer positive does not

neccessarily mean you had it, just that you were exposed to it enough or are a carrier, as about 12% of people are.

[Catshrink]

8. Really? A carrier?

What does that mean? Can I infect someone?

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

11. No, not likely, Just that you have had a sub-threshold exposure

and the acitve antibodies are in your blood. Have you tried to give blood lately? They won't take it. Would not take mine for years, because of malaria. Then they said that malaria was ok, sure give it. I did, then they pissed and moaned that I was positive for Hep... well, shit, they never asked me.

[bubba_fett]

12. I've heard...

that anyone who has a job handling blood has Hepatitis. But, I may be getting that wrong. All I really know about it is that C can be fatal. And A is relatively common, and manageable. Again, I could be wrong...

[Warpy]

13. If they did a complete hepatitis panel

...they would have checked both antigen(the virus itself) and antibody titers. You probably had a positive antibody titer, which confers natural, lifetime immunity. It would be instructive to know whch letter of the alphabet you had, though. We are up to A,B,C,D,and E.

I'm a health care worker who seroconverted to Hepatitis B years ago, before there was a vaccine. I never had the disease, and have an undetectable antigen level. All it means is that I can't donate blood or organs, and that I have a lifetime immunity to that variety of hepatitis.

The outbreak is Hepatitis A, a completely different animal from B. It's a viral illness with a fairly low death rate, but it will knock you on your fanny for a good few months if you get it. Once you're over it, you're fine, but you can get it again in the future.

The fact this this outbreak is so enormous makes me suspicious that it was the result of deliberate contamination, not a few bad green onions. Most outbreaks from restaurants are limited to far fewer than 100 people, whether or not the mechainsm is uncooked, unwashed vegetables or a slob of a food handler who never washes his hands before exiting the bathroom.

[Catshrink]

14. I didn't get all the info....

I was rather annoyed at being tested. Afterall, the tech was careless, I was busy, and just didn't think to ask. In retrospect, I should have asked more questions. Next time I see the doc I'll ask about being tested again.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

18. Actually it depends on WHICH Virus it was

There are fice kinds of hepatitis A,B,C,D,and E. B and C carriers CAN infect others if the virus is active NOT dormant. I am not so certain as to the nuances of D and E. If it was Hep A then NO the simple fact that you had it in the past means that you recovered and developed anti-bodies to it. You cannot get Hep A twice.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. Gamma Globulin injections...

Are usually given after exposure to possible infection. Or was, at one time.

[JM]

6. Hep A can be passed...

...by produce being fertlized using infected manure or water. The particular problem with green onions is infection can settle into the layers, making it difficult if not impossible to clean.

Beaver County PA's outbreak sits at 500+ cases of Hep A with 3 dead and one critical, supposedly from bad green onions, but I'm not buying it. I sill think it was an employee. If this many people got sick in a first wave and it was green onions, we would be seeing outbreaks coming or going around the same time elsewhere.

Later,
JM

[Momof1]

9. I'm not sure about your questions

but I have a few for you. My hubby works in a kitchen in Pa, he has not heard one official word about this. I told him on Friday to throw out all the onions, but... what do I know...(just a housewife)

Well when I saw your post about Sysco... NOW he is paying attention.
Was this a corporate decision, is it just Sysco? Any info you can give could help.

On friday, I heard the onions came out of Mexico, there were 2 smaller outbreaks in Southern states. In PA, the news has been advising to wash onions, and cook them before serving.

[roguevalley]

10. my mom got hep. we all got gamma globulin. She turned yellow.

To this day we don't drink out of the same glass once. You can't
drink/use same stuff as each other because you can get infected.
Its not that hard to get infected and the type is probably the
stuff you recover from. If it were type C, I would kill someone.

[bubba_fett]

15. All I know...

is that it was a corporate decision from the restaurant I work at, not Sysco. I didn't really get a lot of info about it, I heard it second hand, but I can have more info about it tomorrow if you'd like.

[Momof1]

19. I know some pulled

them voluntery. Chi-Chi's Corporate did, and our local Taco Bell did.
Just wondering how widespread this is. It was all ready in 2 States.
But those infections were smaller numbers.

[bubba_fett]

20. I'm not too worried

My guess is they pulled the onions just to be safe. The restaurant I work at is in Wisconsin (fyi). There was no sense of urgency, or memo or anything like that, they just spread the word that we'd be throwing anything out that had green onions in it.

But thanks to everyone for the info, I know that how and when I should be aware of it. I may try to get tested if I can just to be safe. Especially since I don't have any kind of health insurance, the earlier the better.

[bleedingheart]

16. There has been a bad Hep A outbreak here in Pittsburgh

that has killed three so far and it has also infected over 400 that we know of...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-11-14-hepatitis-outbreak_x.htm

It has been traced to green onions...

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

17. Hep A can be carried on foods due to bacteria from

fecal matter getting into the processing, including if the foods came from coutries where poor sewage treatment infects the food supply.

If you notice a fever, chills etc. you should go to a clinic, even a free clinic if you don't have health insurance and get tested. The risks of Hep A being fatal only go up because people do not catch it on time.

Here is the fact sheet on Hep A:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/a/fact.htm

on edit: Hep A is the ONLY one that is passed via the food chain.

BTW don't be so certain Sysco will pay out the ass. There may be sttlements to anyone killed or harmed but there is NO guarantee of that. DO take precautions since the blood test is cheap and simple.

[proud patriot]

21. Hepatitis is incredibily sturdy outside the body

Where AIDS dies the moment the blood or fluid
is dry Hep is still there thriving .

I learned that in a health and safety class
The universal precautions used by Health
pros. is for Hep as well as Aids .