On April 26, 2013, the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD), Office of Epidemiology (OOE) received reports of gastrointestinal illness from 8 independent groups of patrons of Firefly on Paradise or the adjacent affiliated restaurant Dragonfly on Paradise (Firefly) located at 3900 Paradise Road, Las Vegas, NV 89109. All patrons from these groups ate at the restaurant during April 21-24, 2013. Ill patrons reported symptoms of diarrhea and/or vomiting after they consumed food from Firefly restaurant, and many sought medical care for their illness. In response to these illness reports, the SNHD initiated an investigation.  

From various surveillance data sources, we have received reports of illness from restaurant patrons who normally reside in 27 states and 2 foreign countries (Canada and United Kingdom) who ate at Firefly during their visits to Las Vegas.

Of the 21 food items that were analyzed, one item, cooked chorizo (a type of sausage), tested positive for Salmonella. Culture and PFGE-pattern results of the Salmonella isolate obtained from the cooked chorizo matched those of the outbreak strain. There are no plans to test the remaining 14 food items that were collected on April 26, 2013.

EH staff contacted Firefly restaurant management to gather more information about the handling of the chorizo product. The chorizo came into the restaurant raw and was subsequently cooked by Firefly restaurant staff.

It is likely that the outbreak was due to local cross-contamination in the restaurant’s kitchen and not from a contaminated commercial food.

John Simmons, the owner of the Firefly restaurants, released a statement through a new public relations firm, just hired.

“We appreciate the Southern Nevada Health District’s thorough review and swift conclusion to this matter. From day one, our concern has always been doing everything we could for those affected and doing everything we could to use this time to make Firefly the safest place to eat in southern Nevada.”

And to further prove Vegas is the temple of trash, check out this video from an aspiring ambulance chaser:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z24K6vIkB7M

(maybe Chapman can figure out how to embed it)