How Danish pastry left me stricken by hepatitis
Toll linked to bakery rises to 61
IT was a sweet treat that left Helen Hill feeling she was ‘going to meet my maker’.
The pensioner told yesterday how she was struck down with hepatitis A after eating cakes from a bakery at the centre of an outbreak.
The 70-year-old retired carer was bedridden for a month and lost half a stone in weight after eating a Danish pastry and a cream cake from baker JB Christie in Airdrie, Lanarkshire.
She is awaiting tests to see whether she has suffered liver damage.
NHS Lanarkshire yesterday revealed 61 patients have now been hit by the liver infection outbreak. It is caused by a virus that can be spread when there is poor hand hygiene.
A number are believed to have eaten food produced by the bakery, but sufferers can also pass on the infection to others.
Mrs Hill fell ill last month. As the weeks went on, she became so lethargic that she could barely walk. Her GP spotted she had developed jaundice, a symptom of the infection. Others include a flulike illness, loss of appetite, nausea, fever and abdominal pains.
Mrs Hill said: ‘I’m in town most days and usually pop into the bakers on my way home for a scone or a cake, a wee treat. I wish I hadn’t now, though. I fell so ill I thought I was going to meet my maker.
‘I began feeling lethargic and even had problems with my vision, bumping into things. They thought I had a urine infection, but I got worse and went back to the doctor. By this time I was dizzy and weak, itchy all over my body and I almost had to be carried in.’
Health officials were already beginning to link other cases of hepatitis.
Mrs Hill added: ‘The doctor said, “You’ve not been near that bakery have you?”
‘I had no idea what he was talking about. I admitted it was a regular haunt of mine, much to my sorrow.’
Mrs Hill is now taking legal action against the bakery, along with others affected.
Laura McGee, senior lawyer at the Glasgow firm NewLaw Scotland, said the number affected had continued to rise.
She said: ‘Some clients only developed symptoms in the last few weeks. As well as the distress of being ill, a number of them have suffered a loss of earnings because they have been unable to return to work while still infected.’
Dr Femi Oshin, NHS Lanarkshire consultant in public health medicine, said: ‘Some people who have become infected with hepatitis A can feel well and have no symptoms for several weeks prior to becoming unwell.
‘However, during this time they can be infectious to others.’ JB Christie temporarily closed its two high street shops in Airdrie and Coatbridge in response to the outbreak, but has since resumed trading.
Andrew Chisholm, owner of the bakery, said: ‘We have co-operated fully throughout this process with NHS Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire Council.
‘We are sympathetic to anyone who has fallen ill.
‘If legal matters are being mentioned, you will appreciate we are not in a position to comment.’