The Mecklenburg County Health Department is encouraging patrons who visited a SouthPark restaurant between Feb. 4 and 10 to get vaccinated for hepatitis A.

An employee at Dogwood Southern Table & Bar, located in the Sharon Square development, was confirmed to have a case of the hepatitis A virus over the weekend.  That employee did not prepare food but was responsible for cleaning and polishing silverware and glassware and delivering food to tables. The employee stopped working at the restaurant on Feb. 10.

The restaurant is open for business and is not considered a public health threat, the health department says.  But patrons who ate at Dogwood between Feb. 4 and 10 are at risk for developing hepatitis A if they have not previously been vaccinated, the department says. Health department officials say the risk of a secondary infection is low.

Dogwood owner Jon Dressler says all restaurant employees have been vaccinated, and guests who visited the restaurant during those dates should have been contacted by the health department.

“I’m sorry for the guests, and we can just apologize for the inconvenience,” Dressler says.

Vaccinations for individuals who ate at the restaurant during dinner shift on Feb. 4 and Feb. 5 will be given until 5 p.m. today at the Mecklenburg County Health Department office at 249 Billingsley Road.  On Thursday and Friday, those who ate at the restaurant Feb. 7 through Feb. 10 can receive vaccinations.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of Hepatitis A outbreaks. The Hepatitis A lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of Hepatitis A and other foodborne illness outbreaks and have recovered over $600 million for clients.  Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our Hepatitis A lawyers have litigated Hepatitis A cases stemming from outbreaks traced to a variety of sources, such as green onions, lettuce and restaurant food.  The law firm has brought Hepatitis A lawsuits against such companies as Subway, McDonald’s, Chipotle, Quiznos and Carl’s Jr.