Hepatitis Outbreak Surging

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/thrive/2003/nov/15/111509066.html ^

[AngrySpud]

One study a few years ago showed that 40% of male restaurant workers DID NOT wash their hands after using the restroom.

I always advised managers to insist that their workers wash their hands as soon as they walk in the kitchen, no matter where they just came from, or even if they'd just washed their hands in the restroom.

[PeyersPatches]

Sometimes you have to wonder if its safe to eat at any restaurant. With people constantly coughing, sniffling, sneezing etc. --- kitchens are like germ factories.

---

I rarely eat out anymore after listening to an instructor of mine (a nurse) discussing the above. She particularly got to me when discussing those food and salad bars. Ugh

[Tijeras_Slim]

'Burghers...Lord luv 'em...somebody has to...sigh.

What are yuns trying to say?

[oldironsides]

The health dept. cleared the workers this week. They said they were not the source of the outbreak. They are looking at green onions from Mexico. US banned all imports of green onions from Mexico.

[Mamzelle]

An interesting project for these graduate students in biology would be how many infections can be attributed to people eating out so much...hardly anyone cooks anymore. And it isn't just the fault of the food handlers...just packing people in the same room with food is part of the way infections spread. And another interesting aside would be how much credit card debt is run up just by eating out! Locally, even on weeknights, the restaurants are packed (yet they are continually going out of business...?).

[RadioAstronomer]

Intersting link.

http://aim-med.org/HepTable.html

Note: If you get the B vaccine you cannot get D. The C vaccine is in human trial as we speak.

[AngrySpud]

"Maybe I'm fooling myself ... "

Unfortunately, you are. Gloves don't do much to protect your foods. Employees often put them on dirty, unwashed hands, which contaminate the outside of the glove as well. Gloves aren't changed often enough, or if they are, hands aren't washed in between. And sadly, workers will pick up a raw chicken breast, throw it on the grill, and then use the same gloved hands to assemble your sandwich.

[RadioAstronomer]

Would be an interesting study for sure.

I rarely eat out. (love the microwave frozen dinners) :-)

[AngrySpud]

Not surprising to hear that. About four years ago Mexican strawberries were implicated in a hepatitis outbreak.

Remember what Grandma always said: "Wash your fruits and vegetables".

[webstersII]

"US banned all imports of green onions from Mexico."

Doesn't Mexico still allow the use of human waste as fertilizer?

That's what happens when you buy stuff from 3rd-world countries.

I never eat raw food at restaurants anymore.

[Aggie Mama]

Which is why I never, ever buy produce from Mexico.

[mewzilla]

Wouldn't have to use it as fertilizer. The field workers have to go somewhere and if sanitiation facilities aren't provided....

[Dane]

KDKA radio in Pittsburgh, just announced that the health dept. is going to have a press conference at 11 AM EST, stating what the source of the hepatitis A is.

[Ditter]

About the rubber gloves....... I saw the butcher at Whole Foods picking his nose with his rubber gloved hand. So much for cleanliness.

[mewzilla]

Wonder if any of the cable nets will cover it? This is far more than just a PA issue.

[bonesmccoy]

Please post the information... we have no info out here on the West Coast/California on this important matter.

The stupid media is covering Wacko Jacko instead of the germs that are infecting hundreds and affecting thousands.

[dansangel]

Just to add a bit to both of your posts.....how about the workers who wear gloves and handle money *and* food? I have seen this numerous places....do the gloves *neutralize* the germs on the money and prevent them from transferring to the food? DUH!

Part of my indoctrination when I worked for a hospital in FL years ago was proper handwashing technique after using the restroom. One must whistle the *entire* tune to "Dixie" while scrubbing hands in order to wash for the recommended length of time - none of this "wet your fingertips and wipe" stuff. Then, one must use a paper towel to not only shut off the faucet (your hands were *dirty* when you touched it), but then discard that paper towel and use a fresh one to wipe one's hands, then use *that* towel to open the door to the restroom to offset all of the other slobs that did not wash *their* hands.

This practice has stuck with me until this day. I seem to get sick less often, especially since I am protecting myself from contact with other people's germs.

[wjcsux]

Many states used to require health cards for restaraunt employees. When I was in High School (Tucson AZ), I worked at a Mexican restraunt for awhile. The state of AZ REQUIRED all restraunt employees to have a health card issued by the state health department. Non-compliance was cause for a fine. A person had to have a chest x-ray and a blood test. You had to have the card with you while you were at work. I guess requiring restraunt workers to be disease free is a form of discrimination in today's PC world.

[FITZ]

Which is why I never, ever buy produce from Mexico.

Most green onions and a lot of produce is from Mexico --- as long as it's washed and cooked it's okay to eat. It's interesting how everyone who travels to Mexico knows not to drink the water or eat certain foods, the importers of this food don't seem aware of any of this at all. Or they are fully aware but don't care.

[AnAmericanMother]

I got the same indoctrination from my grandmother, but the tune was "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." And I do the whole bit with the paper towel, with a slight variation - BEFORE you wash your hands, go ahead and crank the towel out of the machine and leave it hanging. Then use the used towel to open the restroom door and prop it with your foot while you ditch the towel . . .

My grandmother was a bacteriologist at the Medical College of Georgia back in the teens (a bit unusual for a southern lady of good family at that time). She was on the front line of the '18 flu pandemic, they were losing healthy young people within a day of their getting sick, and there was nothing they could do about it. It really did affect her entire life - she was a germ freak until the day she died. You could have eaten off any surface in her house, and she was after us kids to wash our hands constantly - it's a wonder we didn't wash 'em right off.