Norovirus Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Norovirus Blog

Sun Microsystems urged people to "Catch the Buzz" at JavaOne.  By the time "Sun Fellow" James Gosling was wrapping up the annual open source event at San Francisco's famed Moscone Center, more than 70 people who attended JavaOne were sick with norovirus.

It was probably the only time when San Francisco is glad to see a Silicon Valley company stop spending its money and go home.    With another group moving into Moscone this week,  San Francisco is left dealing the the nasty aftermath of a norovirus outbreak.  Reports the San Francisco Chronicle:

The source of the virus has not yet been identified, but generally the norovirus is passed when an infected person spreads microbes either by preparing food or sharing plates or utensils, said Jim Soos, assistant director of policy and planning at the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

Public health officials are working with convention center organizers to make cleaning recommendations and to confirm the cause of the illness, according to a bulletin issued by the health department.

The Moscone Center consists of more than 2 million square feet of building area. On Friday it hosted the last day of the JavaOne Conference, and an event next week is going ahead as scheduled, Perry said.

The SF Chronicle story can be located here.

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As we said in our last post, we always do appreciate local media doing follow-up stories, especially when it involves an outbreak. The Akron Beacon Journal is staying on the norovirus outbreak at the Kent, Ohio Chipotle Mexican Grill. More than 400 Chipotle customers got sick. The Ohio newspaper spoke to both City Health Commissioner John Ferlito and the spokesman for the Ohio Department of Health. 'It was definitely a norovirus outbreak,'' Ferlito said Monday. ''It looks like people ingested it through the food. How it got into the food, I can't ascertain at this moment.'' Results of the food tests -- made available Monday by the state health department -- came up negative for fecal coliform, a bacteria often found in human waste, Ferlito said. Ohio Department of Health spokesman Kristopher Weiss said there is no specific test for norovirus in food. But, he said, ''if we were to find fecal coliforms, it would be indicative of fecal contamination, which can lead to norovirus and other illnesses.'' Test also were negative for four other types of bacteria linked to gastrointestinal illnesses: salmonella, staphyloenterotoxin, shigella and E.coli. Ferlito said it remains unclear whether the food was contaminated in Kent or before it got to the restaurant

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Something you do not see often enough these days is good follow up stories from television news operations.  Cleveland's CBS affiliate, 19 ActionNews, is an exception, however, as a week later is it doing a good follow up on what happened with the norovirus outbreak at the Kent, Ohio Chipolte Mexican Grill.   WOIO reports:

State health officials at the Ohio Department of Health laboratory confirmed that the food borne illness associated with Chipotle in Kent, Ohio was Norovirus Genotype G2. 

It is evident that the food consumed from the Kent Chipotle between Tuesday April 14 and Friday April 18th was contaminated with norovirus. 

Stool samples collected from people who had eaten chipotle food between 4/14 and 4/18 tested positive for Norovirus Genotype G2. 

More  than 400 customers of the Chipotle Mexican Grill reported having symptoms of Norovirus.  Secondary transmission to people who have come into contact  with the Chipotle customers now concerns the health department, according to 19 ActionNews.

For the complete 19 ActionNews story go here.

 

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"Chipotle Mexican Grill is the Bono of the fast-food business."   So says the current issue of the magazine Fast Company.   Point of the story is how everybody loves it.

Well, not everybody likes Bono and Chipotle just made a few hundred people sick with norovirus.  Or at least that's what Ohio's Newsnet 5 is reporting.   The TV news service reports:

 City, county and state health officials said they suspect the Norwalk virus is to blame for making hundreds of people sick after they ate at a Chipotle restaurant in Kent.

According to Kent health officials, 432 people have reported norovirus symptoms as of Monday afternoon.

Officials said no cases have occurred since the restaurant reopened on Saturday. It had closed on Friday after people were reporting symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea after eating there.

The restaurant on Route 59 was cleaned and sanitized and new employees were brought in from other restaurants to work there.

The Newsnet 5 report can be found here.

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Noroviruses are estimated to cause 23 million cases of acute gastroenteritis (commonly called the "stomach flu") in the U.S. each year, and are the leading cause of gastroenteritis. Of viruses, only the common cold is reported more often than viral gastroenteritis (norovirus).

Noroviruses may cause more outbreaks of foodborne illness than all bacteria and parasites. They can cause extended outbreaks because of their high infectivity, persistence in the environment, resistance to common disinfectants, and difficulty in controlling their transmission through routine sanitary measures.

The norovirus is transmitted primarily through the fecal-oral route and fewer than 100 norovirus particles are said to be needed to cause infection. Transmission occurs either person-to-person or through contamination of food or water. Transmission can occur by touching surfaces or objects contaminated with norovirus and then placing that hand in your mouth; having direct contact with another person who is infected and showing symptoms; sharing foods or eating utensils with someone who is ill; exposure to aerosolized vomit; and consuming food contaminated by an infected food handler.

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9News, Denver's NBC affiliate, is reporting tonight on a norovirus outbreak.   Sick are 63 students at the University of Denver.  9News reports that:

Denver Health Department officials say the students were afflicted with the Norovirus, a group of viruses that cause the stomach flu and can be spread by direct contact with contaminated surfaces, people, food or other objects. They say coughing and sneezing do not spread the virus.

According to health experts, the Norovirus is not life-threatening and should pass within 12 to 36 hours, on average.

Health officials say it is safe for students, faculty and staff to live, work and eat at DU and in all of the DU residence hall dining areas.

See the 9News story here.

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Outbreaks of norovirus continue around the country.   This latest report comes from Lake County, Montana.   Montana's News Stations are reporting: 

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A University of Connecticut sorority picked the wrong place to hold its banquet.  About 30 sorority women were treated by UConn's infirmary after dining at the nearby Adams Mill Restaurant.  Norovirus is suspected.

Grace E. Merritt, writing in the Hartford Courant, reports:

UConn sent out a campuswide e-mail Thursday detailing the outbreak and urging precautions to prevent the virus from spreading on campus.

Norovirus can be food-borne, can spread from person to person or can be contracted from the contaminated surfaces of doorknobs and handles, said Manchester Health Department Director Maryann Cherniak Lexius.

At the health department's suggestion, The Adams Mill, a restaurant and banquet center on Adams Street, voluntarily closed for the day Wednesday for a top-to-bottom cleaning, she said.

About 150 people attended the dinner  hosted by the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. For Merritt's entire story, go here.

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The New York Department of Health has made it official.  Norovirus made nearly 400 guests sick at the Six Flags Great Escape Lodge & Indoor Waterpark in Queensbury, New York.

Capital News 9 reports:

The department has concluded that the illness was in fact a norovirus.

The department also said that less than ten new cases have been reported in the past four days, and the spread of the illness is declining.

The report did not determine the origin of the virus, but both drinking water and water in the park has been tested. Both came back negative for bacteria

Go here for more.

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