17 per cent of students used hand sanitizer during norovirus outbreak; NZ study reports same result

“It looks pretty sweet. It looks awesome. That suit, it’s incredible.”

One of the best lines from the movie, Napolean Dynamite, and one that came to mind when I read about a New Zealand study that found 18 per cent of people at a hospital used a hand sanitizer.

We found 17 per cent of students during a norovirus outbreak at the University of Guelph used a prominently displayed hand sanitizer back in 2006.

Maybe that’s just the rate of people paying attention to handwashing. Who knows about these things? Our study was written up in the Chronicle of Higher Education today, with Ben making lots of pithy quotes.

The 2009 New Zealand study appeared in Eurosurveillance this morning and the abstract is below.

The hand hygiene behaviours of the public in response to the current H1N1 influenza pandemic 2009 (or other pandemics) have not previously been described. An observational study was undertaken to examine hand hygiene behaviours by people passing a hand sanitiser station in the foyer of a public hospital in New Zealand in August 2009. Of the 2,941 subjects observed, 449 (18.0%, 95% confidence interval: 16.6, 19.6) used the hand sanitiser. This is a far from optimal result in response to the health promotion initiatives in the setting of a pandemic. These findings suggest the need for more effective health promotion of hand hygiene and also provide baseline measurements for future evaluation of hygiene practices.
 

Camel burgers on the menu in Saudi Arabia

Amy is forever telling me she wants a llama. I figure she saw it in the movie, Napolean Dynamite, and that maybe it would be cool in a retro sorta way. She also grew up with deer, so there’s some validity to it.

Amy also talks of the farm on Interstate-70 between Manhattan (Kansas) and Topeka where she would see a camel on the hill. I never saw the camel. But Amy told the story to enough people that she finally ran into one who knew of the Kansas camel, and said the farmer got rid of it.

Maybe it was made into camel burgers? Cause that’s what they’re doing in Saudi Arabia, where a fast food restaurant is offering baby camel burgers as the latest way for the camel-crazed country to enjoy one of their favorite delicacies.

Saleh Quwaisi, one of the owners of the Local Hashi Meals restaurant in the capital Riyadh which plans to open a second branch soon and considers to expand further, said,

"The idea…was to invent something new. It is about the love of Saudi people for camel meat.”

Walid Sanchez, managing director of sufraiti.com, a popular Saudi online dining directory, sees a huge market for camel burgers as Saudis like to try out new menus and appreciate the quality of locally made meat.

"People like camel meat but no one experimented with camel burgers before…I think it will be a popular thing, it will definitely take off.”

Ahmad al-Okaili, ordering "Hashi" burgers — Arabic for baby camel — for him and his children, agreed: "I like their idea and enthusiasm, they’re the first to do this and they’ve become famous with it, which is well-deserved."


Are you going to finish your tater tots?

In Nebraska schools, the answer is no.  Favourite snack of Napoleon Dynamite, tater tots, have been pulled from lunchlines throughout the state.  According to the Lincoln Journal Star 25,000 pounds of the tasty treats distributed to 345 schools were removed from lunch service on Thursday after reports that children who had eaten them became ill. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the potatoes reportedly had an odd taste and odor.  In Nebraska, three schools reported sick students.