Norway: Investigators
identify virus as cause of hotel epidemic
Norwegian food safety authorities have
identified the virus that to date has left around 200 guests and staff at an
Oslo-area hotel violently ill. The source of the virus, however, remains a
mystery.
Thursday October 02 2008
Source of Article: http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2688134.ece
It
may take weeks before an investigation by
Illness
swept through the Clarion Hotel Gardermoen, near
Instead,
most of them wound up vomiting and suffering from acute diarrhea, especially
serious ailments for diabetics. More than 30 were taken to hospital, and scores
of other visitors at the hotel also fell ill, including hotel staff and members
of a band hired in to play at the foundation's party.
Investigators
are scrambling to narrow down common traces of food consumed by the victims.
Complicating their probe, however, is the fact that the norovirus
can spread quickly among people. That means victims didn't necessarily need to
eat the same contaminated food to get sick.
"We're
still analyzing a long list of food products served at the hotel, and have sent
out questionnaires to those who became ill," Siw
Ulvehøj of Mattilsynet told
Aftenposten. But because anyone with
the virus can easily spread it to others, Ylvehøj
noted that it's possible the initial source of the virus won't be found.
Dr
Unn-Berit Schjervheim said
the highly infectious nature of the norovirus, and
its outbreak at the Clarion Hotel, just stresses the need for people to wash
their hands often, especially if they've been ill. "Hand hygiene, hand
hygiene, hand hygiene," she exclaimed to Aftenposten.
"Wash your hands, especially after going to the bathroom."
________________________________________________________
Copyright (C) All rights reserved
under FoodHACCP.com
If
you have any comments, please send your
email to info@foodhaccp.com
