The Associated Press
Friday, June 27, 2003; 9:23 AM


ALHAMBRA, Calif. - Los Angeles County health officials are urging anyone who ate at a Taco Bell restaurant in Alhambra a few weeks ago to get vaccinated for hepatitis A after a worker was diagnosed with the liver disease.

Officials said customers' risk of contracting the disease was low and the immune globulin vaccinations were precautionary.

"We have no way of knowing if this person contaminated the food," said Laurene Mascola, chief of Los Angeles County's Acute Communicable Disease Control Program.

Officials learned of the worker's diagnosis Thursday, and recommended vaccines for anyone who ate at the restaurant on Commonwealth Avenue on June 12 or 13. The vaccination only is effective if received within 14 days of exposure.

Hepatitis A symptoms include yellowing of eyes and skin, nausea, appetite loss, vomiting, stomach cramps, dark-colored urine and fatigue.

A call to Taco Bell headquarters in Louisville, Ky., on Friday was referred to the Irvine public affairs department, whose phone was answered with a recording before business hours.

[b]What the hell ever happened to restaurant workers having health cards ???[/b]

HAV is usually spread by ingesting something that has been contaminated with the stool of a person with Hep A. Let's hope the worker washed his/her hands!


That said: Do people really eat at places like Taco Bell?

If so, why?

TT [wave]

Did the hepatitis make the food taste any better? Taco Bell uses a lower grade of meat than Alpo does. The fact that just one of their employees; at only one store; had a cumminucable disease shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. "I'd like 2 Chicken Forrealdo supremes."

I eat there every once in a great while (like ten times a year).  I've gotten really sick once and mildly sick twice, but that was a long, long time ago.

Sounds like a lot to me.