Category Archives: Norovirus

UK -Norovirus outbreak at Lego show in Bristol leaves over 40 people ill

Posted on November 25, 2019 by | Leave a comment

NY POST

Eurofins

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Dozens of people in the UK have been suffering from Norovirus-like symptoms after attending a huge Lego event in Bristol over the weekend.

The organisers of the Bristol Brick show say they are “devastated” and an investigation has been launched by the city’s health authorities.

Nearly 4,000 people visited the Action Indoor Sports centre to celebrate Lego, but after the event, more than 40 attendees started experiencing sickness and diarrhoea.

One Lego fan, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was not happy with the cleanliness of the venue.

He said: “The state of the place left a lot to be desired.”

“The food wasn’t great and over the weekend, the toilets weren’t well maintained, the basins didn’t work well and there was no hand sanitiser and that sort of thing.”

 

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Posted in food contamination, food handler, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Virus, Norovirus, Uncategorized, Virus

USA – Virus Outbreak Shuts Down 46 Colorado Schools, Is It Norovirus?

Posted on November 25, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Forbes

Food Borne Illness - Norovirus -CDC Photo

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When the virus may be norovirus, you can’t just ignore-a-virus. That’s why over 22,000 students in Colorado will have no class.

Well, at least for today and tomorrow. Diana Sirko, PhD, the Superintendent of Schools for Mesa County Valley School District 51, has announced the closing of the entire school district through the end of this school week. That’s all 46 schools in District 51.

The reason is that hundreds of students and teachers have already gotten ill with vomiting and diarrhea. Although the cause has not yet been clearly identified yet, this sounds suspiciously like norovirus. Yes, norovirus, the virus that Aron Hall, DVM, MSPH, DACVPM, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has called the “perfect human pathogen.”

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Posted in food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Pathogen, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Virus, Norovirus, Uncategorized, Virus

USA – Poke Pop in Fircrest Washington liked to Norovirus Outbreak

Posted on November 8, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Food Poison Journal

Food Borne Illness - Norovirus -CDC Photo

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Update—Nov. 7, 2019

We received new reports from people who said they got sick with norovirus-like illness after they ate at Poke Pop in Fircrest. Since yesterday’s update, we received 9 more illness reports for a total of 26.

The illness reports fall into 2 categories:

  • Primary—22 report they got ill after they ate at Poke Pop.
  • Secondary—4 got ill away from Poke Pop from exposure to customers who reported illness after they ate there.

The exposure dates range from Oct. 30-Nov. 4 for everyone who got sick. People got ill about a day and a half after exposure. Their illness lasted about 2 days.

Reports of illness have decreased so this will be our last regular update on the suspected norovirus outbreak. Read our previous posts in the link above and go to www.tpchd.org/norovirus to learn more.

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Posted in food contamination, food handler, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Virus, Norovirus, Uncategorized, Virus

RASFF Alerts – Norovirus – Frozen Raspberries – Live Common Cockles

Posted on November 8, 2019 by | Leave a comment

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RASFF – norovirus (G II /25g) in frozen raspberries from China in Germany

RASFF – norovirus (I & II /25g) in live common cockles (Cerastoderma edulis) from Portugal in Spain

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Posted in food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Toxin, Food Virus, Norovirus, RASFF, Uncategorized, Virus

Iceland – Iceland reports increase in Norovirus

Posted on November 4, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Outbreak News Today

Norwalk_Caspid

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Health officials in Iceland are reporting an increase in norovirus infections in recent weeks. Local media report (computer translated) a large number of residents at the retirement home Hrafnista in Hafnarfjörður have been diagnosed with the virus and last week the infant play school Ársól in Grafarvogur was closed due to infection.

In addition, dozens of employees at the accounting firm, KPMG were stricken with the virus and everyone recovered.

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Posted in Food Illness, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Illness, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Norovirus, Uncategorized, Virus

Norovirus – 3 Aida Cruises voyages experience outbreaks

Posted on October 21, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Outbreak News Today

Health officials report investigating three norovirus outbreaks onboard voyages with Aida Cruises vessel, AIDAdiva.

The first outbreak was on a September 5–23, 2019 voyage. 125 passengers and crew had symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting. The causative agent was determined to be norovirus.

The second outbreak was on a September 28–October 12, 2019 voyage. On this trip, 95 passengers and crew were infected with norovirus.

The most recent voyage was  October 3–13, 2019. On this voyage, 93 passengers and crew were affected.

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Posted in food contamination, food handler, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Virus, Norovirus, Uncategorized

USA – CDC report highlights Norovirus, Salmonella and restaurants as key

Posted on October 15, 2019 by | Leave a comment

New Food Magazine

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) annual Foodborne Disease Outbreak Report, published in September 2019, has provided data on the 841 foodborne disease outbreaks that occurred throughout the US in 2017, resulting in 14,481 illnesses, 827 hospitalisations, 20 deaths, and 14 food recalls. The statistics provided some eye-opening information, particularly with regards to Salmonella, the Norovirus, and restaurants.

Although Listeria was a key focus of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “swabathons” in 2017, and there was a major E. coli leafy greens outbreak, the two most frequently reported confirmed causes of outbreaks and associated illnesses that year were actually Norovirus and Salmonella.

Norovirus was the cause of:

  • 140 outbreaks, 35 percent of confirmed single-pathogen outbreaks
  • 4,092 illnesses, 46 percent of confirmed single-pathogen illnesses
  • 40 hospitalisations, six percent of confirmed single-pathogen, outbreak-related hospitalisations
  • Four deaths, 20 percent of outbreak-related deaths.

Salmonella was the cause of:

  • 113 outbreaks, 29 percent of confirmed single-pathogen outbreaks
  • 3,007 illnesses, 34 percent of confirmed single-pathogen illnesses
  • 472 hospitalisations, 66 percent of confirmed single-pathogen, outbreak-related hospitalisations
  • Eight deaths, 40 percent of outbreak-related deaths.

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Posted in food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Norovirus, Research, Salmonella, Uncategorized

RASFF Alert – Food Poisoning – Norovirus – Frozen Wedge Clams

Posted on October 11, 2019 by | Leave a comment

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RASFF – food poisoning suspected to be caused by norovirus GII in frozen wedge clams (Donax trunculus) from Turkey in Spain

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Posted in food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Norovirus, RASFF, Uncategorized, Virus

USA – Cornerstone Premium Foods Voluntarily Recalls Frozen Blackberries Due to Possible Health Risk of Norovirus

Posted on October 7, 2019 by | Leave a comment

FDA

Cornerstone Premium Foods of Syracuse, New York is recalling a specific lot of product containing frozen blackberries (noted below) due to the potential of being contaminated with Norovirus. FDA testing of frozen blackberries was reported to have tested positive for Norovirus.

Norovirus is a highly contagious virus. Consumption of product contaminated with Norovirus may cause acute onset of symptoms of gastroenteritis including severe nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Less common symptoms are low-grade fever, chills, headache, muscle aches and fatigue. Although most symptoms end within 48 hours, the elderly, young children and immunocompromised persons may develop prolonged, or more severe symptoms.

No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this recall. Impacted retailers have removed these products from store shelves. The FDA and the company continue to investigate the source of the issue.

Specific lot information is as follows:

Product

UPC Code

Lot Number

Expiry Date

Distribution Dates
16 oz Cornerstone Frozen Blackberries 8 55104 00765 9 GC 1 1092 9 April, 2021 4/2/2019-8/7/2019

Consumers who have purchased the products are urged to destroy or urged to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with questions may contact Cornerstone Premium Foods at 1-800-333-0949, Monday – Friday, 8:00AM – 5:00PM EST.

This product was sold to various retailers in NY, MA, PA, ME, FL, AL, WI, CT, and WV.

Label, Cornerstone Frozen Blackberries

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Posted in FDA, food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Virus, Norovirus, Uncategorized, Virus

USA – Norovirus most common foodborne pathogen in 2017

Posted on October 2, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Barf Blog

Food Borne Illness - Norovirus -CDC Photo

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) late last week released a summary of foodborne illnesses in 2017 based on an annual analysis of data from the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System, and Norovirus was the most common pathogen reported, responsible for 46% of illnesses. Salmonella and Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli were also linked to a substantial number of outbreaks.  

In 2017, the CDC tracked 841 foodborne outbreaks, which included 14,481 illnesses, 827 hospitalizations, 20 deaths, and 14 food product recalls. A single etiologic agent was confirmed in 395 outbreaks (47%), which are defined as two or more related cases.

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Posted in E.coli, food bourne outbreak, food contamination, food death, food handler, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, Food Virus, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Norovirus, outbreak, Research, Salmonella, Uncategorized