Employee At Germantown Venue Diagnosed With Hep A, Widening Vaccination Effort

The vaccination effort to slow the spread of hepatitis A in Nashville has reached a new group — anyone who visited The Back Corner music venue in late June. An employee has been diagnosed with the contagious liver disease, which most people get over in about two weeks.

To this point, the 48 confirmed cases of hepatitis A are primarily in the three big risk groups — homeless people, illicit drug users and men having sex with men. Several inmates in the Davidson County jail were also diagnosed
in early June.

But now public health officials are encouraging any patrons of
The Back Corner in Germantown during the last few days of June to get a free vaccination. They say the risk of contracting the virus is low, but still merits taking precautions. And customers have until Saturday to get a vaccine and it be effective.

Hepatitis A is typically transmitted when someone gets a bit of feces from an infected person in their mouth, which could happen with unwashed hands through food or drink. This is why health officials worry about the virus entering the food service industry.

Louisville, which is nearly a year into its outbreak, has had
a list of dining establishments and grocery stores with employees who’ve come down with hepatitis A. Many restaurants have preemptively paid for their workers to get vaccinations.