YUMA, Ariz. (AP) — Yuma health workers are administering booster shots, hoping to prevent an outbreak of hepatitis A after an employee at a popular local restaurant was diagnosed with the disease.
Clinics were scheduled this week and next week to administer shots to the estimated 6,000 to 8,000 people who might have been exposed at the Chile Pepper restaurant between May 25 and June 2. The gamma globulin shots boost the body’s immune system.

“This is all preventive. The likelihood of exposure is very minimal, but we can’t take that chance,” said Deborah McIntosh, health department director of nursing.
Hepatitis A is a virus transmitted through food or water contaminated with stool from an infected person.
It can cause fever, tiredness, loss of appetite, nausea, abdominal discomfort, dark urine and jaundice. Symptoms usually last less than two months. A few people are ill for as long as six months, but the liver disease is rarely fatal.
The disease didn’t originate in the restaurant. Health inspectors said they conducted inspections of the restaurant and found no history of violations.
The county was notified after a female food handler from the restaurant fell ill and tested positive for the infection. It’s not clear how she contracted the disease, health officials said.