MORRILTON, AR – Lemonte Stayton already bit into his Subway sandwich before he knew of a warning from the state health department.
“Why you didn’t tell me about the situation before I went and had my sandwich?” he said.
It’s not Stayton health officials are worried about. They’re concerned about customers who ate at the Subway between March 25 and April 5.
People like Nathan Hill.
“Definitely scary, yes,” said Hill.
Health officials narrowed in on those dates after figuring out thats when an employee infected with Hepatitis A was contagious.
The Conway County Health Department had pediatric vaccines on hand Tuesday and expects 200 adult doses to arrive by Wednesday.
“It’s possible that they could be developing symptoms at this time,” said Catherine Bodenhamer, Arkansas Department of Health specialist.
Bodenhamer said symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice–which is yellowing of the skin or eyes– and clay colored stool.
For the most part, health officials say the virus is not deadly, but people with liver disease, diabetes or who are pregnant are considered high risk when they’re infected.
The health department says inspectors visited the restaurant after the employee was diagnosed and it was cleared to remain open.
Managers say the employee no longer works there.