26 February 2013/15 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/08 Esfand 1391

In Newark, New Jersey U.S.A., a YMCA day care center had two children test positive for norovirus.  Licking County Health Department investigated after there were calls about an outbreak at the center. Four other children and two employees are showing symptoms.  YMCA says they are cleaning everything in the center.

According to Canadian reports, health officials with Windsor Essex County Health Unit say that the number of norovirus cases in their area are about the same as last year.  But, they can’t tell you if it’s the new Sydney strain or not, because they do not do that kind of analysis.

In Bolivar, Tennessee U.S.A., the Pine Meadows Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center had an outbreak.  By the end of last week six residents were still sick. Also in Tennessee, the Union University was closed for two days because hundreds of students and staff were sick.

In Vancouver, Washington U.S.A., the Billygan’s Roadhouse restaurant was closed for one day, because 22 customers got sick.

In United Kingdom, the Sunningdale Court nursing home was closed to visitors for five weeks!  Relatives of residents are mad. The operators of the nursing home say it’s germ free now.  Also, today the operators of University Hospital of North Staffordshire are asking sick visitors to go away. Four hospital wards are now shut down because of the vomiting bug.  Other hospitals are having the same problem, such as the Sandwell and West Birmingham hospitals.  Several wards in the Cheltenham General Hospital are now closed for the next 48 hours.

In Michigan U.S.A., health officials in Branch County reporting increased complaints of norovirus infections.

In West Newbury, Massachusetts U.S.A., 140 students got sick at Pentucket Regional High School. The school re-opened after massive decontamination efforts. The school superintendent inadvertently made a pun when describing the situation: “We had a steady flow of students during the course of the day….”-Jeff Mulqueen

Saint Luke’s Hospital in North Carolina, U.S.A., warning (with another pun) of increased outbreaks: “It’s explosive! It takes only about one to two days after being exposed before you develop diarrhea. It’s highly contagious, by the time you start seeing cases of the norovirus, there could already be an outbreak.”-Lori Rothell,  infection preventionist

On the United Kingdom “dependency” of Isle of Man, people were kept away from several care facilities, because of outbreaks of vomiting bug. Even people who were sick were told to go to a doctor’s office rather than a care facility. Noble’s Hospital, Grainagh Court and Ramsey & District Cottage Hospital are now re-opened.

In Scotland, eight wards are closed in the Liberton Hospital in Edinburgh: “We have taken the decision to temporarily restrict visitors in a bid to prevent the further spread of the infection and to ensure the hospital returns to normal working as soon as possible.”-Ingolfur Johannessen, National Health Service

Also, the vomiting bug is being blamed in part for Scotland’s accident and emergency (A&E) departments’ dreadful waiting lines: “There is no doubt that it was a busy winter with more emergency admissions than the same time last year and with the additional complexity of an early norovirus season.”-Alex Neil, Health Secretary

In Wales, at least 107 students were sick at the Dell Primary School in Chepstow.  They say the school has been hit two days in a row with the “sickness bug”. The school closed down for deep cleaning, and has re-opened.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) studied food poisoning cases from 1998 to 2008.  They found that the top edible causing food poisoning, or stomach flu, is green leafy veggies! That’s followed by dairy products, fruits and chicken (contaminated chicken accounted for the most deaths).  Seafood accounted for only 3.4% of food poisoning cases! The number one reason for food poisoning is that most of the veggies, dairy, fruits and chicken were contaminated with norovirus (at one time called Norwalk virus).  This backs up a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) report that had similar conclusions.