Posted on 01/07/2003 10:16:46 AM PST by snippy_about_it
BOSTON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- A stomach virus blamed for sickening cruise ship passengers in recent months was reported Tuesday at near epidemic levels in the Boston area.
Health officials said many hospital emergency rooms in the region have been swamped with people complaining of severe symptoms of the Norwalk virus, a contagious microbe.
"We have about 700 cases" in the Boston area, said John Auerbach, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission. It is almost at "an epidemic level," he said.
Health officials fear the illness is even more widespread in the general public because most individual cases are not reported.
The outbreak "seems more severe than any in the last five to 10 years," according to Dr. Stephen Kruskall of the Leonard Morse Hospital in Natick, Mass.
The virus, which is characterized by nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps, typically lasts a day or two, but those could be "the worst 48 hours of their life," Auerbach told the Boston Globe.
Those stricken are advised to drink clear liquids.
Dr. Anita Barry of the Boston Public Health Commission said there has been a "pretty unusual" outbreak of the virus in area nursing homes and hospitals.
At least 17 separate outbreaks have been investigated, including at one nursing home where 186 people fell ill.
The virus is easily passed from person to person, such as through a handshake, but officials say the danger of infection could be reduced if people washed their hands after using the bathroom.
The virus got its name from the city of Norwalk, Ohio, where it was identified some three decades ago. While unpleasant, it rarely causes death or serious illness. The elderly or those already seriously ill are the most at risk, officials said.
Shoot. I use my teeth.
Hotel/Motel Rooms: probably the biggest germ holder is that TV remote: I wash it off with soap and hot water before using it.
Can you imagine those high paid motivated maids that clean the hotel rooms. I sure they dont use the same rag to clean off the nightstands and desks and remote controls that they use to clean the bathrooms, Do They????
Never touch anything in a public area, and you'll be ok.
This includes stair handrails, escalator handrails, rental car steering wheels, elevator buttons, anything in a bathroom, free sample items at a store, shopping carts, anybody elses keyboard, floor models (of any type) at Home Depot, the coffee machine at work, forklift handles, previously dispensed straws at a restaurant, the community toothpick holder (right next to the straw dispenser), etc...
Oh, and never ever ever! use your tongue to flush the toilet at a bus station.
I know that a lot of scientists have hypothesized that the reason asthma in children is on the increase is because they're kept too sanitized as babies and their immune systems never get a proper jump start.
I saw a study done about what contaminants were on the keyboards of public computers. The number one contaminant (most frequent) detected was human feces.
Well thanks for the warning. We would appreciate it if you would overcome your need to hurl if you decide to visit. We have enough trouble cleaning up the pablum puked from Beacon Hill. No need to add to it.
About 12 years ago there was a beginning study announced for these public hot air dryers. The study was squashed.
It appears that these hot air dryers are the perfect incubator. When at a fast food place, I always grab a handfull of papper towels on the way in. I instruct my kids for the same and let them know why.
In the late 70's these hot air dryers were installed in many new school locker rooms for a full body dry-off. Result? Increase in athletes foot and in strange places of the body. I think that most have been removed by now.
A few years ago while out walking with this old family friend, he offered some of his plug of tobacco. I asked if he rather I bit off some or pinch it off. He said bite. When I inquired why, he said that I could not scratch my a** with my teeth.
People used to die when they got sick. Often they died before they reproduced. The incidence of lousy immune system genes in the population was kept to a minimum. Also, if people lacked the impulse control to take proper care of their health, and refrain from extreme risk-taking, they likewise often either died before reproductive age, or were socially removed from the gene pool, when their disabilities rendered them unmarriageable. Now, not only do we save people, even if they would have died several times over without high tech medical care, but there is virtually no concept in the general culture that people who are unusually prone to severe infectious illness and/or who suffer from chronic systemic illnesses, should think long and hard before reproducing. It's pretty scary to see the population get weaker and sicker, and the only response from the government and society is to advocate spending more and more money on more and more elaborate medical care (and of course, more and more taxpayer funded medical care). Of course, there's always the huge and predictable crowd screaming but "we mustn't practice EUGENICS! it's EVIL! They never seem to notice that what we're practicing now is human-directed DYSgenics.
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