Customers of a Dunkin Donuts in Ocean City are being told to seek treatment after an employee with hepatitis A was found to have worked there several days while potentially infectious.
The unnamed employee worked at the location at 962 West Ave., between Jan. 27 and 31, according to a release issued by the Cape May County Health Department in conjunction with the New Jersey Department of Health.
While the risk to customers who ate or drank there is low — "out of an abundance of caution" — the health department is recommending they receive PEP, or post-exposure prophylaxis.
PEP consists of hepatitis A vaccine and/or immune globulin and can further reduce the risk of acquiring hepatitis A.
To be effective, PEP should be received as soon as possible, but no later than Feb. 14.
The management is cooperating with sanitary procedures and the investigation, officials said.
Dunkin Donuts has worked closely with the Cape May County Department of Health staff and all employees affected were identified and are able to return to work after receiving PEP. The restaurant has been cleared to reopen.
Hepatitis A is a contagious liver disease that results from infection with the hepatitis A virus. It can range in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a severe illness lasting several months.
Hepatitis A is usually spread when a person ingests fecal matter, even in microscopic amounts, from contact with objects, food or drinks contaminated by the feces or stool of an infected person. Signs and symptoms of hepatitis A can include the following fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal discomfort, dark urine, clay-colored bowel movement, joint pain and jaundice.
Signs and symptoms usually appear two to four weeks after exposure, although they may occur as many as seven weeks after exposure.
Children younger than 6 with hepatitis A often do not have or show few signs and symptoms.
