Opryland linked to outbreak; health officials think it’s norovirus

Posted on January 17, 2015 by Ben Chapman

On my first trip to Nashville in 1999, Dani’s aunt (who we were visiting) took us to the Opryland hotel. We walked around for about an hour, grabbed some ice cream and took in the vibe. The drive down Music Row was more my thing, but the hotel was pretty impressive.

According to the Tennessean, at least 10 guests of Opryland have been treated for gastroenteritis, and it looks like the cause is norovirus.

Burba Isaacs, a vendor at a hardware trade show at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center recently, said she and her husband arrived at the hotel on Jan. 7 and left on Jan. 10.

Around midnight Jan. 10, the Kentucky resident woke up “horrendously ill” with vomiting and diarrhea. She said her husband had developed similar symptoms.

“I haven’t been that sick in a long time,” Isaacs said by phone Thursday. “I have absolutely no idea (what happened).”

The hotel is trying to determine how many guests are experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms and seeking the health department’s help, hotel spokeswoman Jenny Barker said in an email to The Tennessean.

“The safety and health of our guests and employees is our top priority, and we are deeply concerned to learn of a number of guests experiencing symptoms of gastrointestinal illness,” Barker said. “We are providing health care services to all affected guests. To prevent further spread, additional precautionary sanitization measures have been implemented throughout the hotel.”

WSMV.com reports that health officials confirmed that at least one guest was ill with norovirus.

Norovirus outbreak, including a death, linked to Kansas Meals on Wheels; handwashing issues cited

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Ben Chapman

When I was a kid I used to visit my grandparents in Campbellford,Ontario (that’s in Canada) a bunch. My grandparents lived most of their lives in Toronto (that’s also in Canada) but had retired to this town about 2hrs outside of the city.

My grandparents were into community stuff: volunteering for the hospital auxiliary, organizing charity curling bonspiels and golf tournaments and driving some of their more elderly neighbors to doctor’s appointments.

And my grandfather drove around some food for Meals on Wheels.

I remember being about 8 and going on his route one spring break morning. He grabbed some already-food-filled covered trays and then took a bunch of apples and oranges in bulk. This was before I knew anything about food safety; I didn’t really notice anything about bare hand contact or handwashing.

According to chanute.com, a norovirus outbreak, tragically including a death, has been linked to a Meals on Wheels service in Kansas.

It has been confirmed by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment that the source of the norovirus outbreak in the Neosho County area last week was Meals on Wheels in southeast Kansas.

KDHE Health Programs Public Information Officer Aimee Rosenow said the numbers of confirmed ill have not changed since Friday when there were 29 confirmed ill.

Rosenow said epidemiology staff are still working on the case to narrow down the source of infection.

A Jan. 8 food safety inspection of the Chanute Senior Services of SEK facility found problems with hand washing and properly arranging food in coolers to avoid cross-contamination. Samples were also taken of all food from the batch delivered Jan. 6.

KDHE Public Health Public Information Officer Aimee Rosenow said KDHE does not have an autopsy report confirming the cause of death as Norovirus infection and cannot release the name of the deceased.

“We do know that the patient was ill and has been served by this program,” she said.

Over the past year UNC-Chapel Hill food policy student (and frequent barfblog contributor) Ashley Chaifetz has been researching food handling practices and infrastructure at food pantries in North Carolina (as part of a USDA CAP grant on STECs). Volunteers provide a particular challenge for food safety as they may be transient and have varying food safety values.

Quaternary ammonium biocides: Efficacy in application

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) are among the most commonly used disinfectants. There has been concern that their widespread use will lead to the development of resistant organisms, and it has been suggested that limits should be place on their use.

While increases in tolerance to QACs have been observed, there is no clear evidence to support the development of resistance to QACs. Since efflux pumps are believe to account for at least some of the increased tolerance found in bacteria, there has been concern that this will enhance the resistance of bacteria to certain antibiotics.

QACs are membrane-active agents interacting with the cytoplasmic membrane of bacteria and lipids of viruses. The wide variety of chemical structures possible has seen an evolution in their effectiveness and expansion of applications over the last century, including non-lipid-containing viruses (i.e., noroviruses).

Selection of formulations and methods of application have been shown to affect the efficacy of QACs. While numerous laboratory studies on the efficacy of QACs are available, relatively few studies have been conducted to assess their efficacy in practice. Better standardized tests for assessing and defining the differences between increases in tolerance versus resistance are needed.

The ecological dynamics of microbial communities where QACs are a main line of defense against exposure to pathogens need to be better understood in terms of sublethal doses and antibiotic resistance.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Volume 81, Issue 2, January 2015, Pages 464-469

Charles P. Gerba

http://aem.asm.org/content/81/2/464.abstract?etoc

30 norovirus cases linked to Minnesota Chuck E. Cheese

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Ben Chapman

There’s a Chuck E. Cheese that I drive by with Sam a couple of times a week. Every time we go by he wants to go back: we took him there on his third birthday (on a weekday afternoon) and he went nuts for Skee-Ball and the arcade games.

Running food safety and infection control at a kids arcade-style restaurant is probably nerve-wracking. According to KAAL ABC Chanel 6, a norovirus outbreak is being investigated at a Minnesota Chuck E. Cheese outlet.

The Washington County Public Health Department is investigating a norovirus outbreak at a Woodbury Chuck E. Cheese restaurant that sickened at least 30 last weekend.

The restaurant was scheduled to be closed until 1 p.m. Wednesday while staff cleaned, said Fred Anderson, an epidemiologist for Washington County Public Health. The restaurant was open until 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Washington County is still trying to determine how the norovirus got started. Several patrons reported getting sick Saturday. Public Health has interviewed about 60 people and half have reported getting sick.

Washington County Public Health reviewed the reservations made for Friday, Saturday and Sunday and determined about 1,000 people were in the restaurant during that time, Anderson said.

A decent recipe for an outbreak is a bunch of kids, with questionable hygiene, in a place with a lot of stuff to touch, and eat, at the height of norovirus season.

Cruise ship sickness/norovirus outbreaks lowest in 14 years

Posted on January 3, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The number of gastrointestinal illness (GI) outbreaks, including norovirus and enterotoxigenic E. coli, on cruise ships fell to the lowest level in 14 years in 2014.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) website contains detailed reports about the outbreaks on cruise ships from 1994 to 2015. The CDC considers it an outbreak anytime 3% or more of the passengers and crew members report diarrheal symptoms onboard a vessel of at least 100 passengers on sailings that are 3 days or longer.

There were nine reported outbreaks of GI on 7 different cruise ships in 2014, tying 2013 with the lowest number of outbreaks since 2001. When you take into consideration that the number of cruise ships is at a record high, this past year saw the lowest percentage of outbreaks on cruise ships since 2001.

Happy New Year: lots of norovirus in Seoul, South Korea

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Ben Chapman

Norovirus isn’t just a North American concern – although surveillance and reporting elsewhere is sorta loose. In Jan. 2014 over 1000 Japanese kids were ill from prepared school meals with contamination eventually linked to bakery employees and bread.

According to Korea JoongAng Daily, 70 cases of norovirus required hospitalization at Severance Hospital in Seodaemun District, northwestern Seoul on New Years Eve.

Kim Mi-jin is the mother of a 7-year-old daughter and the 4-year-old son. But unlike most people, she spent New Year’s Day in the emergency room, while her son struggled with a high fever that had climbed beyond 39 degrees Celsius (102.2 degrees Fahrenheit) on the previous night.

“He was diagnosed with enteritis, caused by the norovirus,” she said. “I’m worried about my daughter because she’s also showing symptoms similar to my son: vomiting and high fever.”

Despite the bitterly cold weather in Seoul – it was minus 10 degrees Celsius on New Year’s Day – winter enteritis is in full swing, which has led a number of patients to the hospital.

According to statistics from Severance Hospital in Seodaemun District, northwestern Seoul, 70 patients rushed to the emergency room on New Year’s Eve, all exhibiting symptoms of enteritis, more commonly known as inflammation of the small intestine.

Among them were 20 adults and 50 children.

“Most of the patients were children or those in their 20s or 30s,” a hospital official overseeing the night shift said on Dec. 31.

Fancy food ain’t safe food: Minnesota edition

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Ben Chapman

Tycoons, a Duluth gastropub inspired by turn of the 20th century millionaire lifestyle, has been fingered in a norovirus outbreak. According to Northlands News Center, an infected food handler or customer (or RTE ingredient -ben) likely spread the virus to diners on December 5.

The Minnesota Department of Health is reporting a significant foodborne norovirus outbreak at Tycoons restaurant in Duluth that happened at the beginning of December.

Investigators from the health department identified at least 30 people, from multiple groups, who got sick after eating at the restaurant on December 5.

They say they didn’t interview all the customers who ate at Tycoons that day so there may have been more than 30 victims.

Update: Duluth News Tribune reports that produce prepped by an infected staff member is the likely source.

In this case, someone on the food prep staff at Tycoons was infected and apparently came in contact with the raw vegetables served to customers at the three separate parties, said Brad Nelson, marketing director for the Duluth-based company that owns Tycoons and other eating establishments in town.

The restaurant was never closed and management has since redoubled training and kitchen signage to remind staff to wash their hands before handling any food.

“It comes down to something that simple, that’s the way to prevent it,” Nelson told the News Tribune. “Our chef and staff cooperated with the state’s effort to find out what happened. Now the goal is to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Minnesota has a bunch of norovirus

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Ben Chapman

Last week something respiratory knocked me out of action for a few days. Between Nyquil, Tylenol and the bug I was writing emails and texts from a world of delirium. But nothing quite compares to the feeling of norovirus: stomach cramps, projectile vomiting and pooping liquid.

According to KARE 11, that’s what a bunch of folks in Minnesota (and elsewhere are experiencing right now).

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) announced Monday that approximately 40 outbreaks of norovirus illness have been reported since the beginning of November. Those outbreaks have occurred in a variety of settings, including restaurants, schools, nursing homes and private gatherings.

When people think of “stomach flu,” they often don’t appreciate that they could have gotten their illness from food or that they could pass the virus to others through food. Prevention of norovirus infections is simple in principle, officials say. Just practice good personal hygiene and observe appropriate food-handling procedures.

“People need to remember to wash their hands, thoroughly” said Dr. Kirk Smith, who heads the Foodborne Diseases Unit at MDH. “Wash your hands after using the toilet, before consuming food, and before preparing food for yourself or others. If everybody did that, we could prevent a majority of the illness caused by these viruses.”

3 weeks in November: 56 hospital outbreaks of norovirus in West Midlands and North East UK hospitals

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Outbreak News Today again, citing Public Health England (PHE) as documenting 56 suspected and laboratory confirmed hospital norovirus outbreaks with the West Midlands and North East regions from the week beginning Nov. 3 through the week beginning Nov. 24.

This brings the annual total to 572 hospital norovirus outbreaks through the week of Nov.24.

53 sickened: Norovirus suspected in outbreak of illness at Nassau Inn

Posted on December 13, 2014 by Douglas Powell

The Princeton Health Department concluded an investigation of Nassau Inn following reports of illness from Thanksgiving diners, the Times of Trenton reported.

Town health officer Jeffrey Grosser said that norovirus is suspected in the majority of reported cases due to the nature of the symptoms and rapid onset of illness, although the department has not obtained confirmed lab specimens from the ill diners.

Officials collected information from 53 customers whose symptoms included vomiting and diarrhea.

As part of the investigation, the department examined the hotel’s practices for heating food, refrigeration and cleaning. Health officers conducted interviews with employees and reminded them to wash their hands, sanitize touchable surfaces and remain home from work if they felt sick.

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