Floating barf-o-rama: Golden Princess docks in Melbourne following gastro outbreak

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Douglas Powell

Hundreds of travelers struck down by gastro on a south pacific cruise have docked in Melbourne.

Passengers on the Princess Cruises’ Golden Princess were grateful to hit dry land today, after the 14-day cruise of Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

The outbreak comes a month after 158 Sydney-bound passengers became sick on sister ship Diamond Princess.

Kerry McNamara from Barwon Heads said she managed to escape a bout of gastro — with sick passengers quarantine in their rooms — but was hit with the flu.

She estimated that the number of people ill could have hit 300.

“At one stage one of my roommates vomited on her bed and it took three hours to get the sheets changed.”

An elderly man also died of natural causes while on the cruise.

Mrs McNamara said passengers became concerned when “stretcher calls” were made across the 14 days.

Princess Cruises spokesman David Jones refused to release how many passengers had become sick.

Canberra gets a lot of gastro

Posted on January 23, 2016 by Douglas Powell

For a nation’s capital – Canberra, that’s in Australia – with all those public servants preaching handwashing and sanitation, they get a lot of gastro.

CT Health has warned of the potential danger of gastroenteritis after a North Canberra childcare centre has been hit with the virus.

Chief Health Officer Dr Paul Kelly said a handful of staff and children had been infected since he was first notified last Thursday.

It was the first outbreak of 2016 to involve ACT Health.

A Canberra woman was one of 150 people who fell ill on a musical cruise in October featuring Australian and international stars and Opera Australia performers.

Six months earlier, a Canberra nursing home was in lockdown after the diagnosis of gastroenteritis in a number of residents, leading to restricted access for family to visit residents.

Fifty-three students caught the virus after an ANU end of year celebration at Burgmann College in 2014.

ND: Outbreak of illness at Cass jail sickens more than 100 inmates overnight

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Fargo Public health and law enforcement officials are investigating an outbreak of illness that sickened more than 100 inmates at the Cass County Jail overnight Tuesday.

The first inmates started reporting mild symptoms like upset stomachs and diarrhea, said Cass County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tim Briggeman.

By 6 Tuesday morning, 110 of the jail’s 282 inmates had reported the same symptoms.

Jail staff treated all inmates on site, and none has reported their symptoms getting worse, Briggeman said.

The sheriff’s office has reported the outbreak to the North Dakota Department of Corrections, and is investigating the outbreak along with officials from Fargo Cass Public Health.

Stomach bug sweeps 49ers world titles

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Douglas Powell

I didn’t know David Gilmore was a sailor.

A stomach bug has many sailors at the 49er world championships off Buenos Aires battling bouts of vomiting and diarrhea.

“We don’t really know why everyone is getting sick, but at least a third of the fleet has come down with stomach pains, diarrhea and vomiting,” said Australia’s Olympic gold medallist Nathan Outteridge.

Outteridge’s crewmate Iain Jensen was among those hit by the bug.

Outteridge said the water wasn’t clean and recent thunderstorms and rain had pushed filth onto the race course, which most sailors hadn’t expected in Argentina.

“In Rio everyone knows it’s dirty and takes precautions accordingly and looks after themselves, whereas here everyone gets told it’s just muddy water, but there’s a lot of filth in there as well,” he said.

With one more day of racing before the fleet splits for the men’s skiff 49er finals series, Outteridge and Jensen sit 17th, while Joel Turner and Lewis Brake are in 23rd.

David Gilmour and Rhys Mara follow in 27th, and Will and Sam Phillips are ranked 28th.

Gastrointestinal outbreak confirmed at Canadian psycho ward

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The London Health Sciences Centre (that’s in Canada) is in the midst of a gastrointestinal outbreak.

AM980 has confirmed an Alert Level Two outbreak has been called for gastrointestinal illness. The outbreak is confined to the 7th floor of the psychiatric ward at Victoria Hospital and the LHSC sent out a memo to staff.

This is the latest issue for the psychiatric ward, which just last week added security guards and visitor restrictions in the wake of what administration calls “an unacceptable level of safety for both our patients and staff.”

Medical Director of Infection Prevention and Control, Dr. Michael John, tells AM980 there have been at least four cases.

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.

Georgia school closed due to viral outbreak

Posted on December 13, 2014 by Douglas Powell

A Newton County elementary school closed Friday because of a virus outbreak.

Newton County School officials say the large number of students at Oak Hill Elementary School have shown symptoms of gastroenteritis.

The health department recommended closing the school, cleaning it thoroughly and monitoring students who have become ill.

Symptoms of the virus include diarrhea and vomiting. The health department says the symptoms usually develop 24-48 hours after exposure. Most people get better in one to 10 days without medication.

Parents received letters about the closure Thursday night.

Channel 2’s Amy Napier Viteri spoke to one parent who said she picked up her child early and she saw several sick kids at the school.

Marie Cruse said the school sent her daughter, Anzlee Mandrona home early when she wasn’t feeling well after lunch.

“They went ahead and sent her home for precautionary measures, which was fine because we understand. We’d rather be safe than sorry,” Cruse said. “It’s a really bad virus it lasts anywhere from 1 to 10 days.”

100 sick: Food poisoning outbreak at Australian dog track; maybe the mayo?

Posted on November 26, 2014 by Douglas Powell

More than 100 people have been struck down by a gastro outbreak at the Sandown Park Greyhound Racing Club in Melbourne’s south-east.

Teachers and students were among the 100 people who fell ill following a valedictory function for Wantirna Secondary College at the club’s function centre last Wednesday.

Four people, including two teachers, needed hospital treatment for dehydration.

The club was closed for commercial cleaning the following day, but more people reported suffering vomiting and diarrhoea after attending the greyhound races on Friday night.

Marissa Notley, 50, said she felt ill just hours after attending a buffet dinner at the club for greyhound racing’s Melbourne Cup.

She said she ate lasagne, rice, chicken, potato, pumpkin, caesar salad and a small serving of tortellini.

“I felt unwell on that night … I went home and had cramps in my stomach and I didn’t have much of an appetite the next day,” Ms Notley said.

“By late Saturday night I was vomiting and had diarrhoea.”

Ms Notley said six other people who sat at her table had also fallen ill.

“That fact that people got sick the Wednesday night before has angered me a little a bit more,” she said.

Department of Human Services spokesman Bram Alexander said authorities were yet to identify the cause of the outbreak.

He said the department was testing samples to determine whether the outbreak was the result of a virus, or contaminated food.

Gastro outbreak among G20 cops

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Dr Jeannette Young’s worst nightmare may be coming true.

In the days leading up to the G20 summit in Brisbane, Dr. Young, Queensland’s medical officer of health, warned that foodborne illness was a much bigger threat than terrorism.

Today at least 15 police officers in Brisbane have come down with a suspected case of gastro on the eve of the G20 Leaders’ Summit.

“We are getting on top of that very quickly to prevent it from spreading,” Dr. Young told reporters.

“When you’ve got large groups of people, particularly living in hotels and going to similar restaurants, we just want to sort this out quickly.”

In 1984, the Pope visited the restored 350-year-old Jesuit mission of Ste. Marie-among-the-Hurons in Midland, Ontario (that’s in Canada). After departing,1,600 hungry Ontario Provincial Police officers who had worked the ropes gathered for a boxed lunch. Of those 500 officers who chose ones with roast beef sandwiches, 423 came down with salmonella.

Those officers have shown, over the years, that a touch of the flu — as foodborne illness is often mistakenly called– is more than a couple of days praying at the porcelain goddess of foodborne illness.

Some 5-10 per cent of those police officers have developed reactive arthritis that will plague them for life.

Bacterial bombs for a noro outbreak? Australian nursing home given the all-clear

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Oh, Bundaberg, we’ve been there and like your rum, but really, 35 residents and 27 staff at an aged care sickened by norovirus?

“The staff did a great job in containing the outbreak,” service manager Hazel Lindholm said.

“It could have been a lot worse.”

The service deployed “bacteria bombs” in its fight against the dangerous virus that swept the facility – a new best-practice infection control solution used across Churches of Christ Care for the past 12 months.

Mr Mason said the bombs had received “exceptional results” for the health and wellbeing of clients in the past.

The bombs release a fog which permeates through all surfaces and furnishings in a room, including down drains and plugholes.

They attack dangerous pathogens including norovirus and H1N1 influenza, with no viruses remaining following a treatment.

“The bombs, which we use in conjunction with normal scrubbing of floors and surfaces as part of infection control procedures, offer cost and time benefits eliminating the need for staff to wash the curtains, bedding and clothing for each resident in each room, which is particularly time consuming and inefficient during an outbreak situation,” Mr Mason said.

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