The Arkansas Department of Health is warning people who ate at two locations in northeast Arkansas to get vaccinated against hepatitis A after a worker tested positive for the contagious liver disease, the latest development in an ongoing outbreak in the region.
The agency said in the statement that an employee who worked at the ASU Reng Student Center Cafeteria and volunteered at the Salvation Army at 800 Cate Avenue tested positive for the virus.
Anyone who ate at those locations between Oct. 13 and Wednesday "should seek vaccination immediately" if they have never been vaccinated before.
"There are no specific treatments once a person gets hep A," the Health Department said in a statement. "Illness can be prevented even after exposure by getting the vaccine or medicine called immune globulin. This medicine contains antibodies to hep A and works best if given within two weeks of exposure to the virus."
The vaccine is safe and effective, the statement said.
Free vaccinations will be offered from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday at the Craighead County Local Health Unit in Jonesboro, 611 E. Washington Ave., and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday in the ASU Reng Student Center's Arkansas River Room.
In a separate statement, ASU characterized the person who tested positive as a temporary worker for the university's food service provider, Sodexo.
"There is not an outbreak of hepatitis A at Arkansas State University, and there is no documented foodborne case," the statement said, adding later: "We have conferred with Sodexo to review its food handling procedures and was reassured by Sodexo that all appropriate food-safety procedures were in place to limit exposure, and to remove any potential future exposure."
Nearly 180 cases of hep A have been reported since February in northeast Arkansas, and one person has died. The health agency noted that the outbreak has occurred "primarily through close contacts in the community, not through eating at restaurants," where hand-washing and glove use are required of workers.