The Alabama Department of Health has reported that customers who ate at the McDonald’s in Northport on McFarland Boulevard between Feb. 28 and March 14 may have been exposed to hepatitis A, and need to contact their health-care provider as soon as possible to receive a hepatitis A vaccine, because an infected employee may have spread the virus.

“Hepatitis A vaccine and immune globulin can prevent hepatitis A virus infection, but only when given within 14 days of exposure,” said Dr. Donald Williamson, state health officer.

That means that anyone who ate at the restaurant on those dates should receive treatment no later than Friday. People previously vaccinated for hepatitis A are considered protected from the virus.

People who ate at the restaurant before March 14 should have gotten ill by now if they contracted the virus, said Dr. Albert White, area health officer for ADPH area 3.

According to the CDC, hepatitis A can appear two to six weeks after exposure.

“We’ve checked with the lab at the hospital, and Tuscaloosa County has not had any new cases being diagnosed,” White said.