Ocala restaurant worker diagnosed with hepatitis A

OCALA, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - The Marion County Health Department says a worker at the Zaxby’s Chicken restaurant on Highway 200 was contagious for hepatitis A, from May 13th to June 2nd.

Officials are urging people who visited the restaurant over the last two weeks to get vaccinated and are recommending others to monitor their symptoms.  Ken Diener and his family ate dinner at the Zaxby's during that time. Now, he's feeling on-edge.

“Nervous, because now it's the unknown,” Diener said. “It's a bigger deal for us, and of course our first concern is for our daughter, right?”

Christi Adair owns the Zaxby's and says that's the very message they're trying to get across.

“We have sanitized the store from top to bottom, we also follow all local and state guidelines for health safety,” Adair said. “Once we found out the employee had the hep-A infection, we contacted an independent firm, and they came in and vaccinated every employee.”

The Marion County Health Department informed the restaurant about the infection on Tuesday. They say this is the only restaurant that's been affected in  the county.

Overall, hepatitis A cases are up across the state. Health officials have seen 87 cases this year alone in Marion County. The county health department is offering vaccines for free.