UPDATE: Nov. 24, 2021, 9 a.m.
In light of the case of hepatitis A contracted by an employee at a Gloucester Township Starbucks, the Camden County Health Department is administering vaccines on Wednesday, Nov. 24, to anyone who believes they may have been exposed. Vaccine appointments will be made on a first come, first served basis.
Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2021, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Camden County Health Hub
200 College Drive
Blackwood, N.J.
Vaccine clinics held last week Friday and Saturday administered hepatitis vaccinations to more than 800 people in Camden County.
The original story follows:
GLOUCESTER TWP., N.J. (KYW Newsradio) -- Camden County's health department says an employee at a Starbucks in Gloucester Township has tested positive for hepatitis A and worked through the infectious period of the virus. They are asking anyone who has visited the store in the last couple weeks to immediately get a vaccine.
County officials say the employee was a food handler. This is especially problematic, because the virus is passed through ingestion.
Officials say the employee worked there on Nov. 4 - 6 and Nov. 11 - 13, while infectious. Anyone who visited the Starbucks location near the Cherrywood Plaza at the intersection of Blackwood Clementon Road and Little Gloucester Road is urged to get vaccinated right away either through their primary care physician or at a clinic Friday or Saturday set up by the county.
That clinic is located at 508 Lakeland Road in Blackwood, and it is open Friday, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. ad Saturday, 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Health officials stress the urgency of a vaccination for anyone who might have been exposed, because the window for getting a shot is two weeks after contact.
Hepatitis A is a contagious liver disease that results from infection with the hepatitis A virus. It can range in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a severe illness lasting several months.
The virus is usually spread when a person ingests fecal matter from an infected person, even in microscopic amounts, from contact with objects, food, or drinks contaminated by the feces or stool of an infected person.
Signs and symptoms of hepatitis A can include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal discomfort, dark urine, clay-colored bowel movement, joint pain, and yellowing of the skin or eyes.
Symptoms of the disease surface two to four weeks after exposure, although they can in some instances occur two to seven weeks after exposure.
“I’ve been feeling like crap a little bit lately, and if I went the 4th, you know it takes two to four weeks to appear in your system, so you know, I may have something wrong with me. I’m not sure," Edward Rainas said. He explained that he goes to the Starbucks location twice each day.
Children under 6 years old with hepatitis A often do not have or show few signs and symptoms.
Once the county learned about the employee’s positive result, an investigation was launched right away and no other food service violations were discovered.