Sat, Apr. 23, 2005
SOME KENTUCKIANS WORRIED THEY MIGHT HAVE CAUGHT DISEASE AT WAFFLE HOUSE
By Cassondra Kirby
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
Kentuckians, who fear they might have been exposed to hepatitis A while eating at a restaurant along Interstate 75 in Tennessee, kept the phones busy yesterday at an emergency clinic hastily setup after an outbreak of the viral disease.
“We had to put our phone hotline back up because of all the calls from Kentucky,” said Carole Martin, spokeswoman for the East Tennessee Regional Health Office who is working out of the temporary emergency clinic in Tennessee.
The hotline is intended to advise those who ate at a Waffle House near Clinton, Tenn., where a food server was one of 18 people in three Tennessee counties to test positive for hepatitis A. Health officials think the server might have exposed more than 7,000 people at the Waffle House, off Exit 122 in Anderson County, from April 1 to April 15, a time when school spring breaks put people from many states on the north-south roadway.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Tennessee contacted the division of epidemiology in all states early this week alerting them of the outbreak.
Doug Thoroughman, an epidemiologist with Kentucky’s Division of Epidemiology, said his office was aware of the hepatitis outbreak but made no effort to immediately notify the public, because only a handful of Kentuckians might have been exposed to the disease.
“We are monitoring the situation, especially since it is a neighboring state and the outbreak is close to the border area,” he said.
Thoroughman said infection-control nurses around Kentucky were notified and told to be on the lookout for hepatitis symptoms, especially in those who have eaten at the Waffle House.
Several Kentucky health department directors said Thursday they were not aware of the hepatitis outbreak in Tennessee, but they also had not heard from any concerned residents.
Martin said health officials are concerned that travelers have returned to their home states and might not get the warnings about preventive measures.
She said health officials have relied heavily on the media to spread the news.
Only the Fayette County Health Department has reported being contacted by individuals who ate at the restaurant.
Jim Wilkins, spokesman for the Fayette County Health Department, said two people in Lexington came forward, but neither had any symptoms of the disease.
Martin said yesterday four people from London had contacted the emergency clinic in Tennessee. After speaking with health officials, the four drove to the makeshift clinic set up at a National Guard Armory in Clinton to get an immune globulin shot. If taken within 14 days of exposure, the shot helps ward off the viral liver disease that can cause serious illness and even death in rare cases.
Martin said the window of opportunity for the preventive shot has past for those exposed on or before April 8. She said those who ate at the Waffle House about that time are advised to look for symptoms and seek medical treatment if any arise.
Others should contact their local health departments for the preventive shot, officials at the Kentucky Department of Health said.
As of Thursday night, 1,549 people of the estimated 7,000 or more who ate at the Waffle House had received the immune globulin shot.
Martin said the Waffle House is not the source of the hepatitis outbreak that has sickened 18 people in Tennessee’s Anderson, Scott and Campbell counties this month. Another, unnamed restaurant in LaFollette, Tenn., 20 miles north of Clinton, is suspected.
Of the 18 people who tested positive, Martin said, several could be traced back to the restaurant that is suspected. That restaurant has not been named because none of its employees has tested positive for hepatitis A, but the investigation is ongoing, she said.
Health officials hope to positively identify and release the source of the outbreak early next week.
No positive hepatitis A cases have been reported among Waffle House patrons, Martin said yesterday, but she added that it is too early for most people to have become ill. She said signs of the disease typically appear around 30 days after being affected.
Hepatitis A, which does not cause long-term liver damage like hepatitis B and C, is usually spread by poor hygiene, food tainted with infected feces or exposure to those infected. Symptoms of the disease include nausea, fever, fatigue, jaundice and dark urine.