By Kay Lazar
Wednesday, October 6, 2004
Officials say a popular South Boston restaurant – shut down Monday after a food handler contracted hepatitis A -will not reopen until the owner fixes serious health problems.
“These are critical violations,” said Lisa Timberlake of Boston’s Inspectional Services Department.
Timberlake said the Italian American Restaurant on East Third Street did not report the suspected hepatitis case to officials; was not heating food to proper temperatures; did not label chemicals correctly; and was not storing chemicals away from the food.
Officials said they were only alerted Monday by a private physician that one of their food handlers was infected with hepatitis. The doctor said friends of the worker, who is from Quincy, sought Immune Globulin shots to protect them from getting it.
But officials said it was too late to offer the shots to the public because shots are only effective within two weeks of exposure. The infected worker handled food Sept. 8 and between Sept. 12 and 18.
Symptoms of hepatitis A are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dark urine and jaundice, and they generally appear about 28 days after exposure.
Dr. Anita Barry of the Boston Public Health Commission said the restaurant’s customers who may have been exposed should be vigilant about washing their hands after going to the bathroom because hepatitis A is spread through fecal matter. The disease is not airborne.