Posted on 09/28/2024 12:12:38 AM PDT by jerod
'This is the biggest gastrointestinal illness outbreak we have on record,' says CPHO
More than 550 people who attended the P.E.I. International Shellfish Festival last weekend reported getting sick, according to the province's chief public health officer.
"This is the biggest gastrointestinal illness outbreak we have on record," Dr. Heather Morrison told CBC News on Friday.
Stool samples taken from people who ate food at the festival have tested positive for norovirus, Morrison said.
"That makes sense to us given all the information that we have."
The illness caused four people to go to emergency departments, and one person to be hospitalized, Morrison said.
Norovirus is transmitted in a number of ways, like eating contaminated food, touching contaminated surfaces, or being in contact with someone who has the virus, she said.
The CPHO began its investigation earlier this week after people began reporting symptoms including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps and fever after attending the event, which was held Sept. 19-22 in Charlottetown.
Organizers said over 3,200 people attended the shellfish festival on Saturday alone, and the four-day attendance was over 9,000.
Anyone with symptoms was advised to fill out an online food questionnaire in an effort to help track the extent of the outbreak and determine the cause.
"It was more people than we had initially even thought," she said. "I would venture [to] guess there were probably more people that were sick than even responded to the questionnaire."
The Chief Public Health Office also contacted the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and other health-care staff to remind them to take stool samples from anyone who presented with symptoms.
But despite the highly contagious nature of norovirus, Morrison said hospitals have not reported a recent spike in cases.
Liam Dolan, board chair for the shellfish festival, is hopeful the outbreak will not tarnish the reputation of the annual event in downtown Charlottetown.
"I feel bad for anybody that did get sick, but it was out of our control to a certain degree," he said. "So I think we are going to learn from this and move on."
With over four decades working in hospitality, Dolan said he's never seen anything like this.
"I'm very disappointed that something like this can happen. We've had 27 years of a great track record for this festival," he said, adding that regular cleaning and safe food handling has always been a priority.
"We do everything that needs to be done. It's just sheer bad luck."...
Never been a seafood eater. Didn’t grow up with it, save fish sticks lol. But the norovirus good grief even seeing the word evokes despair lol. HATE that virus with a passion.
Shellfish bastards...
From the article: “ We do everything that needs to be done. It’s just sheer bad luck...”
Nope. It’s improperly prepared food by folks who should be cleaner, wash their hands more, not be handling food while having runny noses, etc.
In PEI or Canada, apparently people are not held to be responsible for much of anything.
I can eat any shellfish except mussels. It's usually about 4 to 5 hours after that the symptoms set it.
Well it is Septembe’R’. Mom never trusted shellfish foods.
Crazy out of the box idea - stay away from festival food.
I grill my steaks very rare-and I eat raw oysters-but only in the cooler months-Oct to May, and with horseradish, lime juice and red sauce. I’ve always heard that you should not eat oysters in warm months to avoid illness. I have never gotten norovirus or any illness from any seafood-but I am very careful of freshness, and not having anyone else handle my oysters after the shells are cleaned...
I eat only veggies and fruit that is fresh-so I have gotten beaver fever-giardia-a few times from veggies/fruit that I did not rinse well. No problems since I started to rinse all in vinegar and water...
Not crazy at all-festival food = street food...
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