Server at St. Mary's grad banquet in Taber tests positive for hepatitis A

Health officials have issued a public alert because a person who served food and drinks at a school graduation party in Taber last month later tested positive for hepatitis A.

Anyone who attended the St. Mary'sSchool grad banquet on June 30 at the Taber Community Centre and consumed food or drink may have been exposed to the hepatitis A virus. They should monitor themselves and their family for symptoms until Aug. 20, Alberta Health Services said in a release Friday.

"While we believe the risk to the public is low, hepatitis A is a serious infection," said Dr. Lena Derie-Gillespie, AHS medical officer of health for the south zone.

The banquet room in the Taber Community Centre is being inspected by Environmental Public Health officials to ensure there's no further risk to the public.

Hepatitis A is an infection of the liver caused by a virus. It is spread through the fecal-oral route and people usually contract it through direct contact with an infected person.

But the viruscan be caught indirectly by ingesting contaminated food or water handled by an infected person who hasn'twashed thoroughly.

Illness can occur within 15 to 50 days after exposure to the virus, but usually within 28 to 30 days.

Individuals can be infectious for one to two weeks before symptoms occur and for a week after.

Symptoms of hepatitis A include:

• Tiredness.
• Poor appetite.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Abdominal pain and fever.
• Dark-coloured urine, light-coloured stools, and yellowing of eyes and skin, developing several days later.

Anyone who develops symptoms between June 30 and Aug. 20 should immediately contact Health Link at 811, AHS said.

Some people, especially young children, can get hepatitis A without noticing any symptoms but they are still infectious.

People who have had hepatitis A in the past or who have received a series of the hepatitis A vaccine are not at risk of infection.

Taber is about 250 kilometres southeast of Calgary.

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