Norovirus confirmed in Michigan Applebee’s illness; 30 others with symptoms

Viruses are fascinating. A 27nm particle first isolated in 1978 from the poop of ill students and teachers at a Norwalk, Ohio school causes millions of illnesses a year by using a host’s cells to make more viruses.

And spread them to other hosts through projectile vomit and explosive diarrhea.

Sort of like what’s happening in Corunna, Michigan where 30 patrons of an Applebee’s are, according to MLive, sick with noro symptoms.

Applebee's Covington, TN Food Service;Stone;Carpet;Glass; Wood; Bar

The Shiawassee County Health Department confirmed the virus was responsible after a person became ill during the investigation period of March 9-12. The transmission source has not yet been identified.

“As of start of business day on March 22, 2016, a total of thirty people experienced similar symptoms and have contacted the Shiawassee County Health Department,” reads a statement from the health department’s Personal Health Services Division.

A call for comment from the restaurant was not immediately returned.

Nicole Greenway, director of personal community health for the Shiawassee County Health Department, said the restaurant is cooperating with the investigation and has fully sanitized the kitchen, bathroom and customer dining areas.

“We were notified by a person from the state who’d seen a complaint and we followed up on that,” she said, of the March 14 notification.

“Unfortunately it goes around, it’s very contagious,” said Greenway, referencing a recent norovirus outbreak at the University of Michigan that led to more than 100 people getting ill. “You can get it from touching a door handle or something like that. One public health message is to watch your hands. That’s a good prevention (tip).”

Cook’s fingertip ends up in Applebee’s salad

A pregnant California woman has filed a claim saying she found a bloody fingertip in a salad at an Applebee’s restaurant in Paso Robles.

Pregnant-woman-sues-over-bloody-fingertip-in-Applebees-saladCathleen Martin of Atascadero tells The Tribune in San Luis Obispo that she was with her husband and child at the restaurant in December when she found the fingertip in  her Chinese chicken salad.

Attorney Eric Traut of Santa Ana says the manager confirmed the fingertip belonged to a cook.

A letter from Applebee’s says the restaurant can’t force the cook to undergo health tests, but a spokesman says the cook has volunteered to undergo screening.

The claim is the precursor to a lawsuit. It seeks unspecified damages, medical expenses and lost income.

Was it the cabbage? 15 sickened by E. coli O111 linked to Minnesota Applebee’s; know thy suppliers

Green, whole head cabbage was the likely source of E. coli O111 illnesses traced to eating at Applebee’s restaurants in Minnesota this summer, state health officials said Friday.

applebees.ricky_.bobby_Fifteen people were sickened by the produce, which was likely contaminated before it was distributed to restaurants, the department said. Health investigators interviewed 14 who were taken ill: 13 ate at nine Applebee’s restaurants in Minnesota; one ate at a Yard House restaurant.

Many of the cases involved people eating the oriental chicken salad at Applebee’s. This particular strain of E. coli O111 had not been seen in the United States previously, the department said.

Applebee’s pulled the item off its menus and returned it after tapping a different source for the ingredients.

Minnesota investigators traced the cabbage to a common supplier outside of Minnesota and continue to work with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to investigate its source. “The FDA examination of the potentially involved farms is still ongoing. Single cases of illness that match the outbreak strain have occurred in three other states,” the department said.

Leafy greens cone of silence descends again; Minnesota Applebee’s pulls salad after E. coli O111 cases

For all the bragging the California Leafy Greens Marketing folks do, you’d think like anyone serving food, they should take responsibility and man-up when their product is implicated in a foodborne outbreak.

applebbes.ricky_.bobby_-300x168No one is saying it’s California leafy greens, but Applebee’s restaurant officials have removed the chain’s popular Oriental Chicken Salad from the menu in Minnesota after at least seven diners fell ill with a rare strain of E. coli food poisoning.

The Applebee’s cases are among 13 reports of E. coli O111 infections in the state all tied to the same genetic strain of the bug — one that has not previously been seen in the U.S. In addition, two more cases have been reported in two other unidentified states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The six remaining cases in Minnesota appear to have no connection with Applebee’s, health officials said. Four of those sickened were hospitalized. Restaurant officials are cooperating fully with officials and pulled the salad and other ingredients included from the menu as a precaution. 

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