New Jersey

2 Diners Test Positive for Hepatitis A Following Restaurant Scare

Two women have tested positive for Hepatitis A after eating at a Mercer County, New Jersey restaurant where an employee had been diagnosed last month, health officials tell NBC10.

Now, officials are warning unvaccinated residents who never ate at the restaurant could have been exposed to the virus.

The women, one a 53-year-old and the other 60, both ate at Rosa's Restaurant and Catering in Hamilton Township at the same time an infected food prepper was working, a Hamilton Township Health Department spokesman said.

Last month, officials warned anyone that had eaten at the restaurant between Nov. 10 and Dec. 1, 2014 to be tested for the virus after the worker was hospitalized. Vaccinations were also offered to residents by the health department.

The new cases were confirmed overnight Thursday, officials said. Both diners are recovering at home.

One woman works at The Hair Port Salon at 3144 S. Broad Street and the other is a fitness instructor at the Hamilton Area YMCA's JKR Branch along Whitehorse-Mercerville Road and the New Jersey Athletic Club in Lawrenceville, officials said. She also works at the Mercer County Board of Social Services in Trenton.

Officials are advising people not vaccinated against the virus that worked with them or visited the salon between Dec. 4 and Dec. 31, 2014 and the health clubs and social services board between Dec. 5 and Dec. 29, 2014 to seek medical care.

Hepatitis A symptoms include mild fever, loss of appetite, nausea, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and dark urine and jaundice. It is primarily transmitted when a person ingests food or water that has been contaminated by the infected person's feces.

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