‘Private company canteen closed after employees diagnosed with hepatitis A’

AMMAN — The Jordan Food and Drug Administration (JFDA) closed down two adjacent kitchens at a private company after 11 of their employees were diagnosed with hepatitis A, JFDA Director General Hayel Obeidat said Saturday.

The liver disease is caused by the hepatitis A virus, which is closely associated with unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor personal hygiene, according to the World Health Organisation website.

The disease is rarely fatal, but it can cause debilitating symptoms, including fever, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, nausea, abdominal discomfort, and dark-coloured urine, in addition to acute liver failure, which is associated with high mortality.

This is not the first closure of the kitchens, which prepare food for employees of a company in the capital’s Tlaa Ali neighbourhood, Obeidat told The Jordan Times over the phone.

The kitchens will be closed for a long period “to see if the disease affected other employees who consumed the canteen’s food and to prevent the virus from spreading”, he said.

Obeidat added that the case will be referred to court, noting that the kitchens will not be reopened until they meet JFDA health conditions.

Ministry of Health teams are currently in the process of analysing samples to determine whether the disease has affected other staff members at the company, according to the JFDA director.