HEPATITIS OUTBREAK 340 infected; source unknown

Contaminated onions shipped to eateries are suspected in other outbreaks.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- At least 340 people, including 11 employees, have been infected by a hepatitis A outbreak at a Mexican restaurant, but for a second week the cause of the virus continues to elude investigators.
While health officials in Tennessee and Georgia say they are interested to know if there's a link between a recent contamination of green onions in their states and the one in Pennsylvania, local health officials can't even say whether the outbreak at Chi-Chi's Restaurant came from a food source.
"There's a bit of frustration on our part," Richard McGarvey, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Health Department, said Wednesday.
Investigators initially suspected that a worker at the restaurant at Beaver Valley Mall, about 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, failed to practice basic proper hygiene in washing hands after using the bathroom. That possibility hasn't been ruled out. As of Wednesday, 35 of the 340 confirmed cases were being notified, McGarvey said. Most of the rest were from Pennsylvania, while 31 were from Ohio, eight from West Virginia, one from Florida and one from South Carolina.
Chi-Chi's response
Uncertain how the liver disease was spread, Chi-Chi's, based in Louisville, Ky., announced it planned to keep the restaurant closed for at least 60 days from when it voluntarily closed Nov. 2.
"We will not reopen until we have total confidence that the location is safe, every employee has been definitively cleared of the infection and we have consulted with all the participating public-health authorities," Chi-Chi's Chief Operating Officer Bill Zavertnik said in a statement.
Meanwhile, a couple who claimed to have been infected after dining at Chi-Chi's Oct. 5 filed a negligence lawsuit Wednesday in Allegheny County court. Robert N. Peirce, III, an attorney representing Douglas and Laurie Miller, as well as more than 30 others, contends Chi-Chi's failed to provide safeguards for customers.
"The Millers have not had any contact from Chi-Chi's, and they don't know what made them sick," Peirce said. "That is why our law firm was hired." Company representatives declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Grean-onion suspicion
Contaminated green onions are suspected of being responsible for a string of outbreaks in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.
In Georgia, about 250 people became infected in September when contaminated green onions were shipped to a dozen restaurants in the northern half of the state, including the metro Atlanta area, said Richard Quartarone, a spokesman for the state's Division of Public Health.
He said after ruling out the possibility of a worker contamination, investigators looked at restaurant menus.
"We look at a variety of ways they could get sick, and basically the picture starts to paint itself," Quartarone said.