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SAINT PETERSBURG, FL – Those who ate at the Ferg's Sports Bar & Grill in downtown St. Petersburg earlier this month might have been exposed to hepatitis A, an investigation revealed by Dirty Dining I -Team.
The County of Pinellas Health Department reported that a dishwasher at the restaurant had been "identified as a case of hepatitis A," according to an email obtained by the I-Team.
In the April 18 email, Pinellas County asked state health authorities to provide a "joint assessment" of the restaurant.
Medical experts recommend that people who may have been in contact with hepatitis A be vaccinated against the virus as quickly as possible. But the County of Pinellas Health Department, which currently provides free vaccines to anyone who wishes, has never informed the public of the infected worker at Ferg's.
According to the email, the "last reported date of work of the infected worker was April 13th and (the employee) worked several days while being contagious".
According to the email, the employee reportedly had jaundice, a common symptom of hepatitis A, on April 15th.
The Hotel and Restaurant Division inspected the sports bar earlier in the month and documented 34 total violations, including 10 "high priority offenses".
Of these, an employee failed to wash their hands before putting on gloves to work with food. Temperature violations with cold foods stored at over 41 degrees Fahrenheit, including 55 degree Kraut, 45 degree ham, 50 degree cheese, 45 degree green vegetables, 51 degree eggs and a Cuban at 45 degrees.
The hot food was also not kept at 135 degrees or more after the inspectors found chicken at 124 degrees and 104 degrees.
An administrative complaint from the division was filed as a result of these most recent violations.
By October 2018, the sports bar had been cited for two separate complaints for foodborne illness. According to the first complaint, two customers became ill after eating sports bar salad on October 20th. Another complaint concerned two other customers who would have fallen ill after eating sports bar salad the same day, according to emails obtained by the I-Team.
This is not the first time that the famous sports bar of St. Petersburg made the headlines. The inspectors forced Ferg to close in 2016 after discovering traces of rodents, cockroaches, ants, flies and maggots.
The news comes as ABC Action News's I-Team discovered that the hepatitis A crisis was rife in Pinellas County. As of Monday night, Pinellas County reported 206 confirmed cases of hepatitis A.
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ABC Action News has contacted Ferg & s and the restaurateurs plan to make a comment later Tuesday night. For more information on hepatitis A and federal government guidelines, visit:
https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hav/index.htm
History development, updating updates. Stay with ABC Action News for the latest news.
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