ShopRite worker in Somerville may have spread hepatitis A

SOMERVILLE — Customers who made purchases in October from the deli counter of a ShopRite are being warned about a worker who handled food while having hepatitis A.

The Somerset County Department of Health said a food handler who is employed at the ShopRite in downtown Somerville may have spread the virus while working between Oct. 13 and Oct. 30. Products made during the time should be thrown away.

Customers not previously vaccinated against hepatitis A should be vaccinated to prevent getting sick no later than two weeks after eating food from the deli. For most people, this date would be Nov. 13.

The health department's warning included anyone who used the store's bathrooms.

Hepatitis A is a highly contagious liver infection caused by a virus that is spread through ingestion by objects or food contaminated by undetectable amounts of stool from an infected person. Hepatitis A can also spread from personal contact with an infected person such as through sex or caring for someone who is ill, according to the CDC.

Symptoms of hepatitis A include:

• fever
• fatigue
• poor appetite
• vomiting or abdominal discomfort
• dark colored urine
• clay colored (pale) stool
• yellow discoloration to skin and whites of the eye (a condition known as jaundice)

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ