A canteen worker at a Canberra high school has been diagnosed with Hepatitis A, sparking a mild health scare.
ACT Health says there is a very low risk to the 1000 students and 100 staff and Lyneham High School but as a precaution is offering vaccines to anyone who might have eaten from the canteen between October 17 and November 4.
The worker, who was not identified, had the diagnosis confirmed on Wednesday.
Hepatitis A is a virus affecting the liver that usually goes away on its own and isn't linked to the more damaging Hepatitis B and C.
"It can potentially be transmitted through food ... (but) the risk to people who have eaten at this canteen is also very low," acting ACT chief health officer Andrew Pengilley told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.
Vaccines administered in the two weeks after exposure significantly reduces the already-negligible risk of developing the disease, he said.
Free vaccination clinics will be held at the school on November 14 and 15.
Dr Pengilly said he was not aware of any previous Hepatitis A outbreaks in the ACT, although he noted the last big one was in NSW - the result of infected oysters in the early 1990s.
"There have been food-borne outbreaks in the past, but most of the cases involve people who aren't food handlers so the people involved are only their immediate family who they make dinner for," he said.
"So it's not uncommon for it to have this sort of response, it's just unusual to have someone preparing food for 1000 people."
Hepatitis A causes non-distinctive symptoms such as tiredness, headaches and nausea and yellowing of the skin and eyes.
More information is available through ACT Health on www.health.act.gov.au/hepatitisa
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