Due to a nationwide shortage, hepatitis A vaccines are being prioritized following a confirmed case at Huddle House in Poplar Bluff, Mo.
An employee at the North Westwood Boulevard restaurant may have been contagious while serving food between Jan. 3 and Jan. 17, according to health officials.
It marks the second case at an area Huddle House in the past two months, but officials say there is no indication the incidents are related.
"We consider this a low risk exposure," said Whitney Preslar, communicable disease nurse and the emergency response planner at Butler County Health Department.
The Poplar Bluff restaurant has performed well on past health inspections, with employees wearing gloves while preparing food and following other food handling protocols, she said.
The health department is concentrating its supply of hepatitis A vaccines on those who have tested positive and individuals who had close contact to the food handler, said Preslar.
"At this time, we're not able to vaccinate the general public," said Preslar. "We are working with the state and different companies to see what we can do."
Preslar could not release information concerning how many vaccines the department has, and said officials are still gathering data on how many people may have been exposed.
As recently as November the health department was able offer vaccines to the public, following a sharp uptick in hepatitis A cases in Butler County.
The department has seen approximately 20 people test positive for the illness since September. It can cause fever, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, joint pain and other symptoms.
In the six years prior to September, Preslar said she had not seen one case in Butler County.
All of the Butler County cases prior to this one have been connected to the use of recreational drugs, Preslar said.
Individuals who tested positive were either using recreational drugs or had contact with someone who was, she said.
Stoddard County had no other reported cases before mid-December, when an employee at the Huddle House in Dexter tested positive. The employee was likely contagious between Nov. 21 and Dec. 2, officials said.
"From the information that Stoddard County gathered at the time ... (these) employees do not work at both restaurants," Preslar said. "They work at the restaurant they're employed at and there's no traveling back and forth."
No one has tested positive since the Dexter Huddle House employee, according to the Stoddard County Health Center.
Hepatitis A is a vaccine-prevenetable disease, however the medication needs to be taken within two weeks of exposure, the Center for Disease Control says.
Symptoms can begin between two to seven weeks after exposure.
An individual will not test positive for the illness until symptoms begin, Preslar said.
"If people are experiencing symptoms, they can give us a call and they need to speak with their medical providers," Preslar said.
Health care providers can also discuss treatment options for those who have symptoms, but are past the 14-day deadline to receive the vaccine.