Hepatitis A clinics continue at health unit

The Sudbury and District Health Unit reminds anyone who was at the Casey's Bar and Grill, located at 1070 Kingsway Boulevard, between Jan. 15, 2015 and Jan. 20, they can still receive a vaccine at the health unit office.

Free hepatitis A vaccines continue to be available at the health unit's main office, located at 1300 Paris St., from Saturday, Jan. 31 to Monday, Feb. 2 – between the hours of 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

The health unit confirmed an employee at the restaurant was infectious with hepatitis A, while handling food, between Jan. 1, 2015 and Jan. 20, 2015.

People who ate at the restaurant during that period could be at risk of contracting hepatitis A.

Symptoms include fever, stomach pain, dark urine, nausea and vomiting, tiredness, loss of appetite, clay- or ash-coloured bowel movements, and jaundice – a yellowing of the skin and eyes.

Hepatitis A can also cause liver infection. Symptoms can last from a few days to several months, and can be serious for older people or those with chronic liver disease.

People who were at the restaurant from Jan. 1 to Jan. 14 are also at risk of infection, but according to Burgess Hawkins, the health unit's manager of environmental health, the vaccine would not be effective for them.

“The closer you are to whenever you get infected, the better that vaccination will work for you,” he said. “After about two weeks, it's not going to be as effective. Chances are it won't even work at all.”