Tag Archives: Vomit

Singapore: y’know, don’t hurl the contents of your stomach in public

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Another serial vomiter story, this time from Coconuts Singapore, but with the risk communication tagline, “y’know, don’t hurl the contents of your stomach in public.”

The residents at Pinnacle@Duxton’s Block 1C have a whole ‘other level of revolting (and downright strange) situation to handle — piles of vomit at random places at the car park and the common area, as many as three to four times a week. The case of the serial vomiter at the Tanjong Pagar estate has gotten so bad that even the town council had to step in a few months ago with posters that say, y’know, don’t hurl the contents of your stomach in public.

According to Channel NewsAsia, the Tanjong Pagar town council received a complaint last year about the recurring problem of vomiting at the common area of that one particular block.

“Town Council put up the poster as an educational tool to deter this anti-social behavior as well as to seek residents’ assistance to contact the Town Council if they know who had committed this act,” said the town council’s vice-chairman in a typical politically correct tone to CNA.

200 hit by noro on Sea Princess cruise ship docking in Brisbane

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Jorge Branco of the Brisbane Times reports gastro has hit about 200 passengers on board a cruise ship docking in Brisbane on Thursday morning.

The Sea Princess was returning from a two-week trip to New Zealand, which saw as much as seven per cent of those on board struck down with norovirus.

Efforts were made to contain the outbreak, with further cleaning expected once passengers departed the 260-metre cruise ship at Hamilton’s Portside Wharf.

A Princess Cruises spokesman said the cleaning measures would delay the ship’s departure with a fresh crew of passengers on the same route later on Thursday.

The cruise saw an “elevated number” of guests suffering norovirus-induced gastro, he said.

Probably: Should the toilet seat be closed before flushing?

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About 30 years ago, I learned to consistently put the toilet seat down after spraying most of my urine into the bowl.

A wife, four daughters, another wife, another daughter, put the damn seat down. I get it.

With the tradies doing renos and using the loo, I had to remind the boys, house full of females, close the lid.

But should people, regardless of gender, close the seat before flushing?

I have anecdotally noticed more media references of a recommendation to close the lid before flushing, so I asked Dr. Don.

That’s Don Schaffner of Rutgers University, podcaster with Chapman, and friend of the barfblog.

(He gets paid to look up this stuff, I don’t, I’m just curious.)

Don replied within hours to say that it looks like there is some pretty good science to show this is more than a theoretical risk.

The potential spread of infection caused by aerosol contamination of surfaces after flushing a domestic toilet.

Microbial biogeography of public restroom surfaces

“On toilet surfaces, gut-associated taxa were more prevalent, suggesting fecal contamination of these surfaces.”

Potential for aerosolization of Clostridium difficile after flushing toilets: the role of toilet lids in reducing environmental contamination risk.

Chapman even chipped with a couple of papers from Chuck Gerba.

My risk-based recommendation?

Maybe.

And be careful (At home, I pee sitting down to minimize the mess, and complaints. That’s minimize, not eliminate).

Why I don’t do potlucks: Alabama workers sickened at holiday dinner

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This is why I don’t do potlucks, don’t get invited to dinner, and do most of the cooking.

Marty Roney of the Montgomery Advertiser reports that about a dozen workers at a Prattville manufacturing plant became sickened Friday following a company party.

No foul play is suspected, and it looks like it is a case of accidental food poisoning, said Capt. Jeff Hassell, who commands the Prattville Police Department’s investigations division. Kinedyne Corporation, which operates a plant in the 1100 block of Washington Ferry Road, held its holiday lunch Friday. About an hour after eating, several employees complained of feeling sick, Hassell said.

Three employees were taken by ambulance to Prattville Baptist Hospital’s emergency room, with a fourth employee going by private vehicle, said Ernie Baggett, director of the Autauga County Emergency Management Agency. There were eight other employees who reported feeling sick who did not seek medical treatment, Baggett said.

“It was a pot luck dinner,” Baggett said. “No one became seriously ill, but a few employees wanted to go to the hospital just to get checked out. The complaints we received were of upset stomachs and some nausea.”

 

Norovirus sickens 60 students at NC State; kindergarten in China

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In an update to the North Carolina State University norovirus outbreak, about 60 students are experiencing symptoms.

“For me it was for one night and that night it was like the apocalypse, honestly. It was, ugh, really bad,” said Astri Sundstroem, a graduate student who battled the virus this week.

Most of the affected students, including Sundstroem and senior Linda Astrom, live in the Alexander residence hall.

“It was really bad. It was very intense for like just a few hours. Everything broke out. It was crazy. Everyone was really sick,” Astrom said.

To demonstrate how infectious norovirus can be, Zhang et al. report in the current International Journal of Infectious Diseases – recommended bath time reading – that noroviruses are a common cause of acute gastroenteritis outbreaks in institutions including schools and kindergartens around the world.

An outbreak caused by GII.P16-GII.2 norovirus in a kindergarten in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China is reported here. An epidemiological investigation was conducted, and pathogen detection was performed. The descriptive analysis indicated that this outbreak in middle class 1 had a point source. Twenty cases of acute gastroenteritis occurred in this class within a period of 8.5 h; the attack rate was 52.6% (20/38). Airborne transmission via the air conditioning unit in a confined restroom could have played a critical role in this outbreak. Sequence analysis of GII-positive samples confirmed that the norovirus GII.P16-GII.2 variant was the etiological agent of this outbreak.

An acute gastroenteritis outbreak caused by GII.P16-GII.2 norovirus associated with airborne transmission via the air conditioning unit in a kindergarten in Lianyungang, China

International Journal of Infectious Diseases, December 2017, vol 65, pages 81-84,Ting-lu Zhang, Jing Lu, Liang Ying, Xiao-lu Zhu, Lian-hao Zhao, Meng-ying Zhou, Jia-long Wang, Guo-cai Chen, Lei Xu, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2017.10.003

http://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(17)30259-X/fulltext

Adidas’ new Oktoberfest sneakers are beer-and vomit-proof

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Amateurs are drunks who vomit on other people’s shoes.

Oktoberfest, whether in Bavaria, or Kitchener, Ont. (that’s in Canada) is full of amateur drunks.

I once got invited to give a talk in Madison, Wisconsin.

Sure, it’s not Milwaukee, but the German influence was everywhere.

I was taken to dinner at some ordinary looking pub, but out back was an entire room devoted to beef-eating and polka music.

It was awesome.

And it wasn’t Oktoberfest, so it was enjoyable.

However, for those looking to gear up for Oktoberfest, because you can’t get enough of drinking warm beer in a concrete hockey arena (the Kitchener version), Adidas has you covered.

The Bavarian-based company is celebrating Oktoberfest in style this year, bringing back its classic lifestyle model, the Adidas Munchen, but with a couple of slight alterations for a much sloppier audience.

Presenting the Adidas Originals Munchen Oktoberfest.

Aesthetically, the brown-and-gold Munchen Oktoberfest are apparently inspired by traditional Bavarian calfskin pants, featuring rich embroidery to match your lederhosen and an inner lining with a red-and-white micro-check tablecloth pattern, which evokes that special alpine sense. Pragmatically, they’re made from fine leather with “DBPR” coating, which, according to Adidas, makes the trainers durably beer- and puke-resistant (thus the DBPR).

Gastro outbreak hits more than 50 day care centres in Brisbane

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It’s winter in Brisbane, Australia, with highs in the 90s F (30s C) a couple of weeks ago, and today where I went to the arena for a lunchtime skate with Amy in shorts and the loudest Hawaiian shirt I own (additional layers were added once in the arena), and where what they call gastro outbreaks have increased dramatically.

Seven elderly people have died from gastro at one Brisbane nursing home – vigorously denied by the operator – and more than 50 daycare centres have alerted Queensland Health of gastro outbreaks.

Emergency rooms throughout Brisbane have been overwhelmed, and not just by dumbass Canadians falling off bikes.

But what is a gastro bug?

How can they not name the bug?

Regis aged care facility in the suburb of Yeronga, just down the road from us, has been in lockdown for 26 days.

A Regis spokesperson on Tuesday night reiterated “there have been no deaths confirmed as being as a result of gastro.”

“As advised previously, Regis has experienced an episode of gastroenteritis at the Yeronga facility. It was first identified on 28 July. We are pleased to say that the episode is nearing completion.”

Darren Cartwright of the Courier-Mail reported yesterday there has been a four-fold increase in gastroenteritis outbreaks in Brisbane’s daycare centres, with almost 200 children alone affected on the southside since June.

In total more than 50 daycare centres have alerted Queensland Health of an outbreak of gastroenteritis.

A Queensland Health spokesman acknowledged the outbreaks were “significantly” higher this year than for the same eight week periods in 2016.

“The data indicates a significantly high number of outbreaks during this eight week period in 2017, however, it should be noted that half of these outbreaks involved fewer than 10 unwell children,” the spokesman said.

That will make the parents and kids feel better.

“In general, it has been a big year for viral gastroenteritis outbreaks across the region.”

Oh, it’s a virus.

Does the virus have a name?

 

Who will clean up the puke in self-driving taxis?

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Canada’s Driving magazine asks: who will clean up the barf in self-driving cars?

Bloomberg reports those working for companies like Lyft and Uber are already discovering a downside of the general public that retailers and restaurateurs and hoteliers have always known. People are pigs. It makes perfect sense that the same people who use white hotel towels to wipe their muddy shoes and return used appliances in sealed boxes will treat a hired ride just as poorly. Hell, some people treat their own cars in ways that would make you shudder.

I spent a weekend in New Liskeard once, a tiny town far north in Ontario (I’ve also been there for a weekend). They do an annual Biker’s Reunion every Canada Day. The place is inundated with visitors and drunken revellers. I took a cab back to my hotel (after a one hour wait) and asked my driver what he did if he had a barfer.

“Two hundred bucks,” he responded. “They get charged two hundred bucks.”

Realizing that it was overwhelmingly drunks who called for cabs at events like this, I wondered if the steep surcharge was actually enforceable.

“We only have two cars,” he responded. “You can’t hide puke.”

 

Jennifer Lawrence barfs during Broadway show

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Mike Moffitt of SF Gate reports “Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence vomited during a Broadway adaptation of George Orwell‘s “1984,” but she says it was not the harrowing torture scene that made her toss her cookies.

The actress’ stomach problems were first reported by Page Six.

The play’s upsetting staging has reportedly caused audience members to faint, although until Monday night, no one apparently has thrown up.

Those who have read “1984,” are well aware of a nausea-inducing scene involving a cage and a rat.

According to a Page Six source, “Midway through the show, Jennifer Lawrence bolted from her seat. Several people saw her getting sick in the lobby. The ushers were very helpful and courteous in helping her out.”

The site quoted a friend of Lawrence, who said the visceral staging had nothing to do with the actress’ stomach distress. “She caught the stomach flu from her nephews,” the source said.

It’s not the first time Lawrence has publicly puked.

At a Guy Oseary-Madonna party in 2014, she got sick and threw up on a porch.

She told Seth Meyers: “I was in such bad condition, and I look behind me while I’m puking, and Miley Cyrus is there like, ‘Get it together.'”

Have you ever vomited so violently your bladder exploded? This UK woman did, and blames dodgy seafood

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Lewis Pennock of the Mirror reports a 46-year-old woman vomited so violently her bladder exploded in a horrific case of food poisoning.

The woman, who had eaten dodgy seafood, was rushed to hospital after spending all night being sick until her condition deteriorated to the point her bladder ruptured.

A serving of gone-off seafood is thought to have left the woman with severe food poisoning, before her symptoms spiralled.

Surgeons who inspected the damage found a 3cm tear in the organ, a report in the British Medical Journal said, which is an incredibly rare side effect of vomiting.

The BMJ Case Report, authored by four medics from West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said the extreme injury was a “rare” reaction.

The unnamed woman, thought to be from Watford, had been eating dinner in a restaurant when she fell ill with food poisoning and began to vomit.

She went home but began to feel worse – and the vomiting became so intense her bladder was ruptured.

She decided to seek medical attention when the frequency and intensity of the vomiting caused her to bleed heavily from her vagina, experts said.

The woman, who had no history of a weakened bladder, was unable to go to the toilet despite having a full bladder.

The BMJ report said: “Spontaneous bladder rupture is a rare entity, with very few reports in the literature.”

It added: “This unusual case is important, as it has demonstrated that even normal, healthy bladders may rupture during episodes of high intra-abdominal pressure.”