If you grill, don’t chill on meat thermometer use

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Ben Chapman

The STEC beef safety #Grill160toKill tailgate project hits Virginia Tech:

Grilling burgers in your backyard or at a late afternoon tailgate doesn’t seem like a scenario set for danger, but your burger can bite back if bacteria is allowed to remain in the meat, Virginia Tech researchers say.

Daniel Gallagher, an associate professor in the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is the principal investigator on a collaborative project to track thermometer use in cooking hamburger meat. Renee Boyer, associate professor of food science and technology, and Virginia Cooperative Extension specialist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is collaborating on the project, a joint effort with North Carolina State University, Kansas State University, University of Nebraska, and Texas A&M.

Boyer and her lab have been distributing kits at Virginia Tech football tailgates that contain a digital read out thermometer, an apron, and a beverage koozy with temperature guidelines. The goal is to prompt people to monitor the temperature of their ground beef.

The team will be handing out supplies around campus parking lots again at a future football game. They will also be checking in with people who have already received kits to see if they are using proper cooking techniques.

The group has launched a social media campaign on Instagram and Twitter. Users who post photos with the thermometer reading 160 degrees with meat using the hashtag #Grill160toKill will be entered to win an iPad.

“We are trying to create an awareness of the importance of grilling meats to 160 degrees to avoid E.coli illnesses by using a thermometer and seeing if we can shift the public’s attitude about monitoring cooking temperatures,” said Boyer.

The bacteria — Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli, or STEC — are associated with at least 265,000 illnesses per year.

Cooking meat to 160 degrees kills E. coli bacteria.

“You go to the doctor to monitor your sodium and cholesterol; using a thermometer to cook meat is the same principle,” said Lily Yang, a doctoral student from San Francisco. “It’s a preventative measure.”

Hamburger, as opposed to steak which has only the surface area exposed, can potentially have contaminants distributed throughout the patty because the meat is ground and mixed.

“As a consumer you are the last line of defense against getting sick from consuming E. coli bacteria,” said John di Stefano, a master’s student from Midlothian, Virginia. “Using a thermometer to monitor your cooking temperature is the best way to do that.”

The outreach effort is funded by a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Keeping animal event goers safe takes vigilance

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Ben Chapman

Two weeks ago 20-month old Colton James-Brian Guay tragically died from an E. coli O111 illness he picked up from a Maine fair petting zoo. Another child who visited the same event, Myles Herschaft, is still recovering from HUS.

Reading about these illnesses and thinking about my kids creates a pit in my stomach. The seriousness of the tragedy and how something like this might happen shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who works with food – farmers, processors, food handlers (commercial or domestic) – or the folks who run petting zoos and animal events.

These tragedies happen often, but it’s not enough to just understand why; the science of pathogen transfer in animal contact events is out there. We’ve published on behaviors and best practices. Petting zoo operators should be watching this case closely and evaluating whether their current strategies would have avoided the outbreak. Changes might mean adjusting a process, increased training, testing and better communication of risks to patrons.

According to Time Warner Cable News, the NC State Fair organizers are focused on controlling zoonotic diseases at animal events.

“For many people, the fair is the only opportunity they may have to come see a cow or a pig or a mule, and so we want to make sure they get that experience. But we want everybody to understand that things like washing your hands and keeping your distance are great little steps that you can take and keep everybody healthy,” said N.C. State Fair spokesman Brian Long.

An E. coli outbreak at the 2011 State Fair caused 25 people to get sick and a year later, officials added barriers between livestock and fairgoers.

“Just to create more separation between humans and animals, you know animals are capable of transmitting bacteria to humans, and vice-versa. We want to keep the animals healthy. We want to keep the people healthy,” said Long.

Keeping folks and food separate from animals is a good strategy. Handwashing matters, but so does cleaning/sanitation of rails, floors and hand-contact surfaces.

At the root of a good food safety culture is recognition by everyone that it’s really important that things go right all the time. The stakes are too high if they don’t: kids end up in hospital or worse.

Vaccines work: Viral gastro reduced in Israel

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Both rotavirus vaccines RotaTeq and Rotarix were efficacious against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis in clinical trials; yet real-world data on the effect of rotavirus vaccines on mild to moderate disease are limited.

We used a large computerised database of Maccabi Health Services Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO), the second largest HMO in Israel covering 25% of the Israeli population, to compare the incidence of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) clinic visits in community settings (n = 302,445) before (2005–10) and after (2011–13) the introduction of universal rotavirus immunisation in Israel.

We retrieved laboratory results of rotavirus antigen tests (n = 18,133) and using a weighted analysis, we estimated the impact of rotavirus immunisation on the disease burden of rotavirus AGE clinic visits. Following the introduction of universal rotavirus immunisation, the typical winter peaks of rotavirus AGE were substantially lower and significant reductions of 14.8% (95% confidence interval (CI): 13.5–16.1) in all-cause AGE clinic visits and of 59.7% (95% CI: 59.8–62.6) in rotavirus AGE clinic visits were observed. The decrease was observed in all age groups, but it was greater in children aged 0 to 23 months than those aged 24 to 59 months. Continued rotavirus laboratory surveillance is warranted to monitor the sustainability of these changes.

Change in incidence of clinic visits for all-cause and rotavirus gastroenteritis in young children following the introduction of universal rotavirus vaccination in Israel

Eurosurveillance, Volume 20, Issue 42, 22 October 2015

K Muhsen, G Chodick, S Goren, E Anis, T Ziv-Baran, V Shalev, D Cohen

http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=21281

Food 8 years out of date at UK Chinese restaurant

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Douglas Powell

A Chinese restaurant had food contaminated with insects and rat droppings and produce eight years out of date, a court heard .

The Hoi Kee in Pinner, Middlesex, was temporarily shut and owner Shuai Zhang told to pay £800 costs.

It was closed along with the TSK Cash and Carry in nearby Rayners Lane after Harrow’s environmental health officers discovered rat infestations.

The restaurant in Pinner had packets that went out of date in 2007 and food contaminated by insects and rat droppings.

At the cash and carry, food had been shredded by rats and mice on the shop floor while a heavy infestation was found in the back stockroom.

The food safety lapses were discovered during routine inspections.

Despite the two premises being immediately shut down and the owners fined, both establishments have now reopened.

Foodborne and waterborne disease outbreaks — United States, 1971–2012

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collects data on foodborne and waterborne disease outbreaks reported by all U.S. states and territories through the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System (FDOSS) and the Waterborne Disease and Outbreak Surveillance System (WBDOSS), respectively. These two systems are the primary source of national data describing the number of illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths; etiologic agents; water source or implicated foods; settings of exposure; and other factors associated with recognized foodborne and waterborne disease outbreaks in the United States.

This report summarizes data on foodborne disease outbreaks reported during 1973–2012 and waterborne disease outbreaks reported during 1971–2012. This report is a part of the first-ever Summary of Notifiable Noninfectious Conditions and Disease Outbreaks, which encompasses various surveillance years but is being published in 2015 (1). The Summary of Notifiable Noninfectious Conditions and Disease Outbreaks appears in the same volume of MMWR as the annual Summary of Notifiable Infectious Diseases (2).

Background

Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance

Foodborne diseases cause an estimated 48 million illnesses each year in the United States, including 9.4 million caused by known pathogens (3,4). Only a minority of foodborne illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths occur as part of recognized outbreaks (5). However, information gathered from foodborne disease outbreak surveillance provides valuable insights into the agents that cause foodborne illness, types of implicated foods and ingredients, and settings in which transmission occurs.

Foodborne disease outbreaks have been nationally notifiable since 2010; however, reports of foodborne disease outbreaks have been collected by CDC through FDOSS since 1973. Initially a paper-based system, FDOSS became web-based in 1998. In 2009, the system was transitioned to an enhanced reporting platform, the National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS), which also collects information on waterborne disease outbreaks and enteric disease outbreaks with modes of transmission other than food, including person-to-person contact, animal contact, and environmental contamination. Information about NORS is available at http://www.cdc.gov/nors.

Foodborne disease outbreak surveillance data highlight the etiologic agents, foods, and settings involved most often in outbreaks and can help to identify food commodities and preparation settings in which interventions might be most effective. Surveillance for foodborne disease outbreaks provides insight into the effectiveness of regulations and control measures, helps identify new and emerging pathogens, provides information regarding the food preparation and consumption settings where outbreaks occur, informs prevention and control measures in the food industry by identifying points of contamination, and can be used to describe trends in foodborne disease outbreaks over time.

Waterborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance

Despite advances in water management and sanitation, waterborne disease and outbreaks continue to occur in the United States. CDC collects data on waterborne disease outbreaks associated with drinking water, recreational water, and other water exposures through WBDOSS. Waterborne disease outbreaks have been nationally notifiable since 2010; however, reports of waterborne disease outbreaks have been collected by CDC since 1971. Initially utilizing a paper-based reporting process, the system transitioned to web-based reporting with the launch of NORS in 2009.

CDC uses waterborne disease outbreak surveillance data to identify the types of etiologic agents, settings, recreational water venues, and drinking water systems associated with waterborne disease outbreaks; inform regulations and public awareness activities to promote healthy swimming and safe drinking water; and establish public health priorities to improve prevention efforts, guidelines, and regulations at the local, state, and federal levels.

Data Sources

Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance

State, local, and territorial health departments use a standard form (CDC form 52.13, available at http://www.cdc.gov/nors/pdf/NORS_CDC_5213.pdf ) to report foodborne disease outbreaks to CDC. Data requested for each outbreak include reporting state; date of first illness onset; the number of illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths; the etiology; the implicated food vehicle; the setting of food preparation and consumption; and contributing factors. Multistate outbreaks (i.e., those in which exposure to the implicated food occurred in more than one state) typically are reported to the system by CDC.

Only reports meeting the definition of a foodborne disease outbreak (i.e., the occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from the ingestion of a common food) are included in this summary. Outbreaks that occurred on cruise ships and those involving food eaten outside the United States, even if the illness occurred in the United States, are not included in FDOSS.

Laboratory and clinical guidelines for confirming an etiology are specific to each bacterial, chemical/toxin, parasitic, and viral agent (http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/outbreaks/investigating-outbreaks/confirming_diagnosis.html). Suspected etiologies are those that do not meet the confirmation guidelines. The cause of an outbreak is categorized as “multiple etiologies” if more than one etiologic agent is reported.

Waterborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance

State, local, and territorial health departments use a standard form (CDC form 52.12, available at http://www.cdc.gov/nors/forms.html#waterborne) to report waterborne disease outbreaks to CDC. Data requested for each outbreak include reporting state; date of first illness onset; the number of illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths; the etiology; the type of water exposure (e.g., recreational); the implicated venue or system, the setting of exposure; water quality indicators; and contributing factors.

Only reports meeting the definition of a waterborne disease outbreak (i.e., the occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from exposure to a common water source) are included in this summary. WBDOSS includes reports of both gastrointestinal illness outbreaks and other illness outbreaks (e.g., legionellosis). Outbreaks that occurred on cruise ships and those in which the water exposure occurred outside the United States, even if the illness occurred in the United States, are not included in WBDOSS.

Interpreting Data

Outbreaks represent only a small fraction of the number of foodborne and waterborne illnesses reported each year. Outbreaks caused by certain pathogens or vehicles might be more likely to be recognized or investigated. However, some illnesses reported as sporadic likely are not recognized as being part of a reported outbreak or are part of undetected outbreaks. In addition, all outbreak-related illnesses might not be identified during an investigation, smaller outbreaks might not come to the attention of public health authorities, and some outbreaks might not be investigated or reported to CDC. Reporting practices for foodborne and waterborne disease outbreaks also vary among states, which might have differing definitions of which events are reportable and unique laws related to disease outbreak reporting. For these reasons, variations in reporting rates by state might reflect variations in levels of effort and funding for foodborne and waterborne disease outbreak investigation rather than actual differences in reporting rates by state. Finally, NORS maintains a dynamic database; this analysis included data on March 27, 2015 for foodborne disease outbreaks and April 27, 2015 for waterborne disease outbreaks. Results might differ from those published earlier or later.

Methods for Identifying Foodborne and Waterborne Disease Outbreaks

Guidance for states and jurisdictions for reporting foodborne and waterborne disease outbreaks is provided by CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/nors/forms.html). As for all notifiable conditions, reporting to CDC is voluntary, and state and local laws, regulations, and practices vary. For example, CDC advises states to report outbreaks with cases in the same household; however, state or local jurisdictions might determine that these outbreaks do not require investigation or might deem them nonreportable at the state level.

Publication Criteria

Foodborne disease outbreaks are defined as two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from ingestion of a common food. Waterborne disease outbreaks are defined as two or more cases of a similar illness linked epidemiologically by time and location to exposure to water or water-associated chemicals volatized into the air.

Highlights

Foodborne Disease Outbreaks

During 1973–2012, CDC received reports of 29,429 foodborne disease outbreaks with 729,020 outbreak-associated illnesses from 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and freely associated states/territories. An average of 736 (range: 298–1404) outbreaks were reported each year (Figure 1). The average annual number of foodborne disease outbreaks reported to CDC during 1998–2012 was more than double the average annual number reported during 1973–1997, coinciding with the transition to an electronic reporting system.

In 2012, a total of 804 single-state exposure outbreaks were reported with 13,320 illnesses by 49 states and Puerto Rico (Table, Figure 2). An additional 25 multistate outbreaks (i.e., outbreaks in which exposure to the implicated food occurred in more than one state) with 1,496 associated illnesses were also reported.

More detailed annual summaries describing the implicated foods, etiologic agents, settings, and points of contamination associated with foodborne disease outbreaks are published periodically by CDC. A summary of foodborne disease outbreaks in 2013, the most recent year for which data are available, is available at http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/fdoss/data/annual-summaries/index.html.

Waterborne Disease Outbreaks

During 1971–2012, CDC received reports of 1,901 waterborne disease outbreaks with 639,949 outbreak-associated illnesses from 50 states and six freely associated states/territories. An average of 45 waterborne outbreaks were reported each year (Figure 1).

In 2012, a total of 73 outbreaks causing at least 1,261 illnesses occurred in 27 states and one territory. No multistate outbreaks were reported (Table,Figure 3).

CDC publishes separate and more detailed summaries of waterborne disease outbreaks associated with recreational water and waterborne disease outbreaks associated with drinking water. These summaries are available at http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/surveillance/surveillance-reports.html.

References

Summary of notifiable noninfectious conditions and disease outbreaks—United States. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2013;62(54).
Summary of notifiable infectious diseases—United States. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2013;62(53).
Scallan E, Hoekstra RM, Angulo FJ, et al. Foodborne illness acquired in the United States—major pathogens. Emerg Infect Dis 2011;17:7–15.
Scallan E, Griffin PM, Angulo FJ, Tauxe RV, Hoekstra RM. Foodborne illness acquired in the United States—unspecified agents. Emerg Infect Dis 2011;17:16–22.
Preliminary FoodNet data on the incidence of infection with pathogens transmitted commonly through food—10 states, 2009. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2010;59:418–22.

Women rock, Gwyneth doesn’t: Paltrow pushes debunked breast cancer myth

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Some women spend their time playing other people in front of cameras and offering lifestyle advice. Some women work in public health. Some play ice hockey, some are French professors.

From the annals of bad health advice, actress Gwyneth Paltrow is under fire for a post on her website GOOP by Dr. Habib Sadeghi with the inflammatory title “Could There Possibly Be a Link Between Underwire Bras and Breast Cancer??” The research discussed in the article has been widely discredited, including by the American Cancer Society.

A 2014 study in which 1,044 women ages 55 to 74 were interviewed about their bra wearing, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (also known as Fred Hutch) found absolutely no link between bras and breast cancer. Specifically, Lu Chen, a researcher in the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutch, said in an article on the center’s website (one that’s cited in a footnote of the GOOP article), “Our study found no evidence that wearing a bra increases a woman’s risk for breast cancer. The risk was similar no matter how many hours per day women wore a bra, whether they wore a bra with underwire, or at what age they began wearing a bra.”

Diane Mapes, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011 and underwent chemotherapy, radiation and a double mastectomy (what she calls “the full monty”), is a public health writer for FredHutch.org and also blogs about her breast cancer experience at DoubleWhammied.com. She told Salon, “If you get your advice from Gwyneth Paltrow, you’re probably not serving yourself particularly well. If people want public health advice, there’s a lot of other sites where they can go to get it.”

Girls rock. Women rock. People rock. Gwyneth doesn’t.

Can Yelp help in tracking outbreaks of food poisoning?

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Doug Powell, a former professor of food safety at Kansas State University who now lives in Australia and writes for barfblog.com, regards Yelp and social media as potentially useful tools for public-health investigators.

“But it doesn’t replace boots on the street, the epidemiological work that people have to do,” he said. “All these things have to be taken with a grain of salt, because Yelp is a business.”

That’s what I told Barbara Feder Ostrov, writing for The Atlantic and PBS, who says that when an outbreak of Shigella sickened 98 diners at a San Jose restaurant last weekend, Yelp reviewers were on the case, right alongside public health officials.

“PLEASE DO NOT EAT HERE!!!!” Pauline A. wrote in her Oct. 18 review of the Mariscos San Juan #3 restaurant. “My sister in and brother-in-law along with his parents ate here Friday night and all four of them ended up in the hospital with food poisoning!!!”

That same day, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department shut down the restaurant. Two days later, officials announced that more than 80 people who had eaten there had become acutely ill, with many requiring hospitalization. Twelve diners went to intensive care units.

Since then, the outbreak has grown to more than 90 cases in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.

Some health researchers and public health professionals believe consumer review sites like Yelp might just help them identify and investigate food poisoning outbreaks similar to this one. It’s not unlike using Google searches to track potential flu and Dengue outbreaks.

Public health workers in New York, aided by Columbia University researchers, scanned thousands of Yelp reviews in 2012 and 2013 to find previously undetected food-borne illness, unearthing nearly 900 cases that were worthy of further investigation by epidemiologists. Ultimately, the researchers found three previously unreported restaurant-related outbreaks linked to 16 illnesses that would have merited a public health investigation if officials had known of them at the time. Follow-up inspections of the restaurants found food-handling violations.

In another study, researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital analyzed more than 5,800 Yelp reviews of food services businesses near 29 colleges in 15 states, concluding that reviews describing food poisoning tracked closely with food-borne illness data maintained by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The timeliness and often-graphic details of the reviews could prove useful for public health agencies investigating food poisoning outbreaks, the researchers concluded.

Researchers also have examined Twitter and Facebook as possible food-borne illness surveillance tools, and Chicago’s public health agency automatically sends information about its Foodborne Chicago reporting site to local Twitter users who complain of food poisoning.

But Yelp’s usefulness for epidemiologists is going to depend a lot on how it handles food poisoning complaints down the road.

The company has been accused of approaching restaurants to remove negative reviews in exchange for advertising dollars, although a class action lawsuit on those grounds was dismissed.

On Tuesday, the company placed an “Active Cleanup Alert” notice on Mariscos San Juan #3’s review page noting that because the business “recently made waves in the news,” Yelp would “remove both positive and negative posts that appear to be motivated more by the news coverage itself than the reviewer’s personal consumer experience with the business.”

While some reviews were easily visible, others were segregated into Yelp’s “not currently recommended” category, which requires readers to click to see them and do not figure in the establishment’s overall rating.

Fancy food ain’t safe food: Waldorf Astoria edition

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Douglas Powell

DNA Info reports that a banquet kitchen at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria hotel was shut down by the Health Department on Monday when inspectors discovered it was overridden with flies.

One of eight banquet kitchens at the tony 301 Park Ave. hotel was forced to close for violations including presence of filth flies, storing food at unsafe temperatures and failure to protect food from potential contamination, according to online records.

The hotel was reinspected and allowed to reopen on Wednesday, according to the DOH.

Waldorf Astoria New York has four restaurants and bars that remained open while that particular kitchen was closed, according to a spokesman for the hotel.

The hotel has 40 banquet rooms for parties with up to 1,500 guests.

A spokesman for the hotel defended cleanliness at the Waldorf Astoria, and said staff worked quickly to address the issues raised in the recent inspection.

“Along with the safety of our guests, the cleanliness of our hotel is of the utmost importance and is a focal point of our operations,” said a spokesman for Waldorf Astoria New York.

Maybe charge whoever booked the caterer: Criminal action called for in Brantford outbreak that sickened 94

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The chief doctor in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, is recommending charges be laid against an unlicensed caterer connected with an outbreak of foodborne illness that sickened about 100 staff at Brant Family and Children’s Services last month.

Dr. Malcolm Lock, Brant County medical officer of health, told board of health members on Wednesday that he believes enough information has been gathered during the investigation into the outbreak to warrant the laying of charges under the Health Protection and Promotion Act. The suggested charges relate to serving food unfit for human consumption and operating as an unlicensed caterer.

The scope of the outbreak necessitated the health unit “do everything we can under the law,” Lock said.

He said that consultations are underway with the local Crown’s office but no final decision had been made regarding the charges. If and when charges are laid, the caterer’s name would be released, he said.

Lock issued an order that the caterer not cater any functions or handle any food for public consumption.

Word about possible charges comes nearly six weeks after a Sept. 10 luncheon, organized by Brant Family and Children’s Services and held at the South Dumfries Community Centre in St. George, that resulted in nearly 100 people becoming ill with quick-onset gastrointestinal symptoms including cramping and often severe diarrhea. Those attending the luncheon were served a catered lunch of egg salad wraps, chicken wraps and potato salad.

By Oct. 5, the health unit had reported that almost all those who became ill had recovered.

The transportation of the food was “totally inadequate,” Lock told board members on Wednesday.

In addition, it was earlier confirmed that the caterer was not registered with the health unit nor inspected by food inspectors.

Stool samples from those sickened were sent to health laboratories for identification and two organisms were later confirmed as culprits.

One was identified as Plesiomonas shigelloides, an organism often associated with raw shellfish and unsanitary conditions, and usually associated with tropical or sub-tropical regions.

Tests later confirmed the presence of a second organism, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, also known at ETEC, in samples sent to health laboratories for identification. ETEC is most commonly associated with traveller’s diarrhea, Lock said.

Board members heard Wednesday that the caterer had returned from a trip to Haiti shortly before the luncheon.

Katie’s Norovirus Nightmare

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Ben Chapman

The NoroCORE Collaborative is running a series of posts for Halloween on norovirus nightmares. The first post comes from one of my graduate students, Katie Overbey.

During Spring Break of 2014 I was spent the week with my boyfriend in New Orleans and we stayed with my aunt. As one does in New Orleans, we ate lots of tasty food and tried lots of drinks. On the Saturday of our trip, after eating at my aunt’s favorite Mexican restaurant (side note: who eats Mexican food when they visit New Orleans?) she decided to take us on what has since been deemed the ‘drinking tour of the French Quarter.’ After about three hours I started to feel queasy right in the middle of the iconic Pat O’Briens Bar. We thought maybe I was hungry from our day of activities so we headed to get dinner. The place was packed and while waiting for our food, it hit me. I weaved through the crowd to get to the bathroom, just to discover that one stall was broken, the other was occupied and there was a line. I apologized to the people in line for what was about to happen and then proceeded to throw up in the sink, because as anyone who’s had norovirus knows – when it decides to hit, there’s not much you can do.

After cleaning up as best I could (though after my master’s research I now know that bathroom was doomed because of all my aerosolized vomit) we headed back to my aunt’s as fast as possible. I proceeded to get sick all night long, which ironically put a damper on the rest of my relaxing vacation.

At first, my aunt and boyfriend thought I had enjoyed the drinking tour too much, but I knew that what I had was way worse. I suspect that it had something to do with the Mexican food because after my aunt ate some of my leftovers, she got sick too.

Katie Overbey is an MS student in Food Science at NC State studying how to better communicate with schools having norovirus outbreaks and environmental detection of norovirus