In total, four customers and one employee contracted the disease. The Health Department is pushing patrons who visited bartaco between Oct. 13 and 23 to receive preventative treatment while they still can. The Port Chester school district also sent an email Thursday alerting people about the Health Department’s recommendation.

The Westchester County Department of Health is recommending that individuals who ate or drank at bartaco, a restaurant in Port Chester, between October 12th and October 23rd receive preventive treatment against Hepatitis A, a viral illness that affects the liver. The health department learned today that an employee with the illness worked at the restaurant while infectious.

Preventive treatment is only effective if given within two weeks of exposure. Therefore, those who dined on October 12th need to receive preventive treatment by tomorrow, October 26th. Those who dined on October 13th through October 23rd need to receive preventive treatment within two weeks of their exposure.

The health department will offer free preventive treatment at the County Center in White Plains for people who ate or drank at bartaco in Port Chester during this time period. Anyone with a prior history of Hepatitis A vaccination or Hepatitis A infection does not need to be treated. The health department will offer preventive treatment on the following dates and times:

• Thursday, October 26 from 4:00 – 7:45 p.m.
• Friday, October 27 from 12:00 – 4:45 p.m.
• Saturday, October 28 from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Anyone under 18 years of age must be accompanied by a parent/guardian to provide consent.

Advance registration for the county preventive clinic is highly recommended. To register, go to www.health.ny.gov/gotoclinic/60. If you do not have internet access or need more information, call 211 from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Restaurant patrons with exposure can also be treated by their own health care provider.

The Westchester County Department of Health is also informing people who ate or drank at bartaco in Port Chester between August 22nd and October 11th those they may also have been exposed to Hepatitis A. While these individuals are outside the window to receive preventive treatment, they should contact their health care provider immediately if they experience symptoms so that anyone they may have exposed can receive preventive treatment. Upon learning of the first cases, the Health Department immediately launched an investigation into the source of the infection.

“Hepatitis A is generally a mild illness whose symptoms include fatigue, fever, poor appetite, abdominal pain, diarrhea, dark urine, light colored stool and jaundice, which is the yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes” said Dr. Sherlita Amler, Commissioner of Health. “There are no special medications used to treat a person once symptoms appear, but Hepatitis A transmission to others can be prevented through proper handwashing.”

Not everyone infected with Hepatitis A will have all of its symptoms. Symptoms commonly appear within 28 days of exposure, with a range of 15 to 50 days. Preventive treatment is only effective within two weeks of exposure to the virus, but symptoms typically do not appear until a person has had the virus for a few weeks. The illness is rarely fatal and most people recover in a few weeks without any complications.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of Hepatitis A outbreaks. The Hepatitis A lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of Hepatitis A and other foodborne illness outbreaks and have recovered over $600 million for clients.  Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our Hepatitis A lawyers have litigated Hepatitis A cases stemming from outbreaks traced to a variety of sources, such as green onions, lettuce and restaurant food.  The law firm has brought Hepatitis A lawsuits against such companies as Costco, Subway, McDonald’s, Red Robin, Chipotle, Quiznos and Carl’s Jr.  We proudly represented the family of Donald Rockwell, who died after consuming hepatitis A tainted food and Richard Miller, who required a liver transplant after eating food at a Chi-Chi’s restaurant.

If you or a family member became ill with a Hepatitis A infection after consuming food and you’re interested in pursuing a legal claim, contact the Marler Clark Hepatitis A attorneys for a free case evaluation.