Customers of a Kroger store on Dixie Highway in the United States are a worried lot now after an employee, who worked in the store, was diagnosed with Hepatitis A.
Kroger management also confirmed the case and requested customers to discard any item purchased from the store at 4915 Dixie Highway in Kentucky area from February 4 to 28, reported wlky.com, citing an official release by the company.
The company also urged people who visited the store to check for any symptoms of the viral disease.
The employee worked in the produce department but stopped working as soon as he was diagnosed with the disease. A report by courier-journal.com stated that health department was immediately alerted and the store carried out an intensive cleaning.
Meanwhile, an outbreak of hepatitis A was going on in Louisville and a few other locations, said Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, according to wlky.com.
Hepatitis A is a viral disease which causes inflammation of the liver. The virus is transmitted through direct contact with an infectious person or ingestion of contaminated food and water.
Hepatitis A, unlike hepatitis B and C, is not chronic but can cause fulminant hepatitis (acute liver failure), which can be fatal, according to World Health Organization (WHO).
Patients, infected with hepatitis A, may not show any symptoms for the first few weeks. However, according to mayoclinic.org some symptoms may be fatigue, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain or discomfort, clay-colored bowel movements, loss of appetite, low-grade fever, dark urine, joint pain and intense itching.
