By William Marler
April 18, 2005
Health officials in Campbell County are working hard to trace the source of a hepatitis A outbreak that has caused eleven confirmed and four suspected cases of in the County. Health officials appear now to be focusing on potentially infected restaurant workers as the source of the outbreak. Knoxville-area restaurants have understandably seen business plummet due to the public’s uncertainty about how the hepatitis A virus is being spread.Continue Reading Restaurant industry should require Hepatitis A vaccinations for all foodservice workers

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.Continue Reading Hepatitis hotline in Tennessee stays busy

By Jeremy Z. Young
news@volunteertimes.com
The East Tennessee Regional Health Office (ETRHO) announced Tuesday that the investigation into the recent Hepatitis A outbreak in Campbell County has identified a current case of Hepatitis A in an employee of the Waffle House in Clinton. However, the Clinton based case may be a “result of, not the cause of” the recent outbreak, according to health officials.
As of Tuesday, there were there were a total of 17 confirmed cases of Hepatitis A in East Tennessee. Of those, thirteen cases reside in Campbell County”mostly LaFollette”, one in Anderson County and another three confirmed cases in Scott County.
Health officials are concerned about those who may have eaten at the Waffle House in Clinton between April 5 and April 15. They are not ruling out that there may be an originating source in Campbell County. The Waffle House, located at 2255 N. Charles Seviers Blvd., isn’t the only possible source for the virus.Continue Reading Source of Hepatitis in Campbell still sought

By LANCE GAY
Scripps Howard News Service
April 21, 2005
– Disease detectives say they are seeing welcome progress in tracking down some of the deadliest food-borne pathogens after several spectacular outbreaks in recent years.
But food safety experts say the war against food pathogens is far from over. As science and industry make progress in fighting pathogens on one front, new problems and pathogens crop up elsewhere.
Within the last year, the United States saw the biggest outbreak of Hepatitis A, a disease once thought confined to poor countries with inadequate sanitation. Some 540 people in Pennsylvania were infected and three died after eating green onions. Meanwhile, outbreaks of the Norwalk virus beached some luxury cruises and a dangerous strain of E. coli showed up at a Florida petting zoo.Continue Reading Scientists report progress in fighting food-borne bacteria

April 22, 2005
Amanda Bellinder, All Headline News Contributor
CLINTON, Tennessee (AHN) – Health officials say time is running out for those who at the Clinton Waffle House between April 5 and 15; the diners may need an immune globulin shot which diverts the viral liver disease, hepatitis A, that causes serious illnesses and possibly death.
In order for the shot to be effective, an infected person must have the shot administered within the first 2 weeks of exposure.
As of Wednesday, 1,241 people of the estimated 5,000 who ate at the Waffle House received the shot at the National Guard Armory in Clinton.
No positive hepatitis A cases have been reported among the guests of the diner said Carole Martin, spokeswoman for the East Tennessee Regional Health Office.Continue Reading Time Running Out For Waffle House Customers Exposed To Hepatitis A

Uncertain of source of outbreak, customers stay away
By DAVID WAHLBERG
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
4/22/05
LAFOLLETTE, Tenn. — Most days, the adobe-styled El Pueblito Mexican Grill in this mountain town about 35 miles north of Knoxville is packed at lunchtime.
On Thursday, the crowd shortly after noon was slim.
But even that was better than last weekend, when hardly anybody showed up, said Mario Ruiz, assistant manager.
“Everybody is afraid to eat in this city,” he said, blaming it on the hepatitis A scare.
The viral liver disease, often serious and occasionally fatal, has sickened 17 local residents in recent weeks. That includes a waitress at a Waffle House off I-75 in Clinton, about 20 miles south of LaFollette. Authorities say she may have exposed as many as 7,000patrons this month during the busy spring break road-trip season.Continue Reading Hepatitis scare pains restaurants in Tennessee

KENTUCKIANS MIGHT HAVE DINED AT TENNESSEE RESTAURANT
By Cassondra Kirby
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
April 22, 2005
State health officials are concerned that some Kentuckians could be among the more than 5,000 people exposed to hepatitis A while eating at a restaurant along Interstate 75 in Tennessee.
But health officials said time is running out for those who ate at the Waffle House near Clinton, Tenn., from April 5 to April 15 — when many schools were on spring break — and who may need an immune globulin shot. The shot helps ward off the viral liver disease that can cause serious illness and even death in rare cases.
To be effective, the shot must be administered within two weeks of a person’s exposure to the disease, said Carole Martin, spokeswoman for the East Tennessee Regional Health Office.
Kentuckians concerned that they might have been exposed should contact their physicians or an emergency room, health officials said.Continue Reading Hepatitis A exposure feared

4/21/2005
The recent Hepatitis A outbreak in Campbell County is renewing interest in food safety. According to Food Scientists at the University of Tennessee, at least 57 million people get food poisoning every year.
Research shows most of those cases occur while eating at home, not at a restaurant.
“There’s a very good chance you’ll acquire some kind of food poisoning this year. You’ve got a 33%-35% chance, and I’d go to Las Vegas with those odds,” said UT Food Science Professor Ann Draughon.Continue Reading UT Scientist: Food poisoning occurs frequently