Tim Hortons customers spooked after one of its location identified as source of hepatitis A outbreak 

Nova Scotia Health is issuing a warning to residents in Amherst after a case of hepatitis A was confirmed in the town’s northern zone. 

The province’s health agency said it is investigating a Tim Hortons after it sourced the cause to its 118 South Albion St. location in Amherst, between May 30 and June 14.

“Though risk to the public is low, there may be members of the public who were exposed to the virus,” it said in a statement on Tuesday morning.

Consequently, the health authority is urging people who ate at the above location between May 30 and June 14, and who have experienced the symptoms listed below since June 15, or develop them over the next four weeks, to see their primary care provider.

SYMPTOMS 

According to the Nova Scotia Health, symptoms are usually mild and could include the following:

• A sudden onset of fever
• Loss of appetite
• Diarrhoea
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Abdominal discomfort, and, within a few days to a week, darkening of the urine and yellowing of the skin or eyes, otherwise known as jaundice.

The illness usually passes in a couple of weeks and most cases heal without treatment. However, on occasion it can linger for months and may cause severe liver damage.

But, unlike hepatitis B and C, hepatitis A does not produce long-term infections. “When someone is infected with hepatitis A they may have no symptoms,” the province explained.

HOW DOES HEPATITIS A SPREAD?

Hepatitis A is transmitted by faecal-oral ingestion. This is when an uninfected person consumes food or water that has been contaminated by the faeces of an infected person.

To protect those at high risk from contracting the infection the health authority will administer a vaccine. Eligible candidates have already been contacted, the province confirmed in its statement.

It also said management at the site of contamination have been “extremely cooperative and supportive.”

To prevent hepatitis A from spreading it is good practice to wash your hands thoroughly, particularly after going to the bathroom and before preparing, handling, or eating food. Vaccination is also effective.

News of the outbreak sparked plenty of online reactions, with some calling for the Tim Hortons responsible to be shut down.

“This is absolutely ridiculous. Close that store down,” one X user wrote. 

“Another PSA for the public to get the hep A and B vaccines – it’s not just for travel,” another person wrote.

On Reddit, some people said they weren’t surprised about the outbreak and that Tim Hortons all over the province are “absolutely horrible.”

Others had a more lighthearted reposone. 

“The best part of waking up is hepatitis in your cup,” one Reddit user said.

This is not the first time a Tim Hortons has navigated a public health emergency. In September last year a Timmies at the University of Waterloo was temporarily closed after a rat was spotted scurrying through the kitchen.

Now Toronto reached out to Tim Horton’s but did not receive a comment in time for publication.