Posted on 11/14/2003 9:01:49 AM PST by FairOpinion
The hepatitis A outbreak linked to the Chi-Chi's restaurant in the Beaver Valley Mall has claimed a second life, as the number of confirmed cases continues to skyrocket.
Dineen Wieczorek, 51, of Hopewell Township died Wednesday evening in the Cleveland Clinic of complications from the hepatitis A virus, her husband, Walter, said Wednesday.
"It's a complete shock," Walter Wieczorek said. "It just all happened so fast."
In addition to Wieczorek's death, the state Department of Health said it now has identified 410 people with hepatitis A linked to the Center Township restaurant, making it the biggest outbreak linked to a restaurant in U.S. history.
The number of confirmed cases has more than doubled in the past week. On Nov. 7, Jeff Cook, 38, of Aliquippa, also died from liver failure due to hepatitis A.
State health department spokesman Richard McGarvey said that without knowing the source of the outbreak, officials are at a loss to explain why the number of victims is rising.
"I don't think we could have predicted it would have gone this high," McGarvey said.
McGarvey said there has been no discussion of a countywide vaccination program, though 280 of those sickened are from Beaver County. Vaccinations are given to healthy people to prevent illness, while inoculations such as those given at the Community College of Beaver County last week introduce antibodies into a person to boost their immune system in case they've already been exposed to the virus.
The health department is continuing to offer the inoculations at its office in Vanport Township.
The Chi-Chi's restaurant has remained closed since Nov. 2, and company officials said the business will not reopen until at least the beginning of January.
The exact source of the virus is unknown, McGarvey said, though the health department is now considering whether food shipped into the restaurant was contaminated. The virus is spread through oral contact with fecal matter.
David Tkacik, owner of the Beaver County Fruit & Garden Center, said Thursday that state and federal officials contacted him about two weeks ago about the green onions and other food he supplies to Chi-Chi's when they run out from their regular supplier.
Tkacik said that after the initial questioning, including where he obtained the supplies, he has not been contacted again by investigators. Tkacik said he last sent supplies to Chi-Chi's in mid-October.
McGarvey said there is no evidence that any of the 410 victims contracted the virus from any restaurant other than Chi-Chi's.
However, McGarvey said, he would not be surprised that other food workers might have eaten at Chi-Chi's and been sickened, considering the high number of cases.
Because of that, the employees at the Aliquippa KFC fast-food restaurant are undergoing inoculations, according to KFC spokeswoman Bonnie Waschauer.
However, Waschauer said, "We have no confirmation of any of our employees being ill. We're very proud that we're doing the responsible thing."
UPMC Presbyterian officials said six patients are being treated there for the virus - four are in fair condition and two are in critical condition. Aliquippa Community Hospital did not return phone messages, and officials with The Medical Center, Beaver, have declined to give information on how many patients are being treated there.
The Wieczoreks celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary on Oct. 2, Walter said, and on Oct. 6, the pair ate at the Chi-Chi's restaurant in Center Township.
Within a couple of weeks, Walter, 54, said, his wife began suffering flulike symptoms, and by Nov. 9, was ill enough that she went to the emergency room at Sewickley Valley Hospital. With a hepatitis diagnosis on Monday, she was transferred to the Cleveland Clinic on Tuesday.
"She really felt that everything was going to be fine," said Walter Wieczorek, who did not get hepatitis.
Dineen Wieczorek had diabetes, her husband said, and in combination with hepatitis it just was too much for her body and she suffered from liver damage.
Wieczorek was on a liver transplant waiting list, her husband said, but Wednesday evening, she died.
Dineen Wieczorek was a customer service representative at the IKEA furniture store in Robinson Township, her husband said. The couple moved from Moon Township to Hopewell Township last year, and both were active in the Elks organization in Coraopolis.
"She was the first Elk I ever kissed," Walter Wieczorek said.
Dineen leaves behind three daughters, Doreen McKenna, 32, Darleen Trunzo, 29, and Christine Wieczorek, 26, and two grandchildren, Justin McKenna, 11, and Joshua McKenna, 6.
"Dineen was a well-loved employee," IKEA spokesman Clive Cashman said Thursday. "This is a very, very sad time for the family."
As word of Wieczorek's death spread, hundreds of area residents went to the state health department office in Vanport Township to receive an inoculation.
Among those scheduled to receive an inoculation were the 70 employees in the dietary department at the Friendship Ridge nursing home in Brighton Township.
Facility administrator Bill Jubeck confirmed Thursday that an employee in the department was diagnosed with hepatitis A, and said he knew of no other employee or patient being diagnosed with the illness. The dietary employees were told to get the shot as a precaution.
Dale Leichliter of Rochester also received an inoculation after his 25-year-old daughter, whom he would not name, developed hepatitis after eating at Chi-Chi's at the end of September. His daughter was hospitalized, Leichliter said, but is recovering.
"There's really nothing you can do," Leichliter said. "I guess you take a chance every time you eat at a restaurant."
According to health department officials, 276 people went to the clinic Thursday and 234 were inoculated.
That means that the state has now inoculated 8,659 people.
Also Thursday, three more lawsuits were filed in Beaver County Court against the Chi-Chi's restaurant and its parent company, Prandium Inc.
Those filing suits were: Philip Orend of Hopewell Township, who filed suit on behalf of his son Conor; Nicole and Anthony Palladini of Monaca; and Wayne and Tammy Flaminio of Darlington Township.
That raises the number of lawsuits to at least seven.
Not to be alarmist, but one does think of:
Al-Qaeda might 'poison food, water' (FBI warning)
and Food terror and fast track
"But if food terror comes to America, it will not be the first such attack. In 1980, the Rajneesh religious cult used salmonella bacteria to poison 10 salad bars in Oregon and sicken 750 people. Chemical and biological agents have also been used to poison food and murder enemies abroad. In 1992, Kurdish rebels tried to poison the water supply of a Turkish military base with potassium cyanide. In 1995, in Tajikistan, nine Russian soldiers died from a New Year's bottle of champagne laced with cyanide by Tajik enemies.
The most lethal attack was the poisoning of thousands of SS soldiers in a U.S. POW camp outside Nuremberg in 1946. Nakam, a vengeance group, infiltrated the bakery that supplied bread to the camp and spread an arsenic-based poison on the loaves. Hundreds died, and thousands were made ill.
In 1978, terrorists attempted to cripple Israel's economy with the mercury-sabotage of her citrus fruit exports. A dozen children in West Germany and Holland were hospitalized. The alleged lacing of Chilean grapes with cyanide in 1989 caused a recall of all Chilean fruit in the United States."
See post #1. Though I wouldn't subscribe the term 'aluminum hat wearer' to such a comment. Quick on the draw, overly cautious, or even paranoid with good reason, but not 'aluminum hat'.
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