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<!-- Top banner image here when used -->Norovirus suspected in illnesses from Waukesha luncheon
By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel
Updated: May 14, 2010 1:20 p.m.
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Waukesha - While the Waukesha County Health Division hasn't ruled out other causes and has no confirmed lab tests yet, a norovirus is a likely culprit behind the gastrointestinal illness reported by a hundred or more people who attended a charitable luncheon at the Country Springs Hotel this week.
"Norovirus seems to be likely," Julianne Klimetz, spokeswoman for the health investigators, said Friday morning. She stressed, however, that results of lab tests on samples won't be known until next week. E-coli bacteria was ruled out as a cause Friday.
Another 50 people who became ill after Tuesday's Women of Distinction awards luncheon had called the department early Friday on the heels of dozens of others reported Thursday.
About 500 attended the lunch, which raised money for the Women and Girls Fund of the Waukesha County Community Foundation and honored women leaders in the county. Anecdotally, the Journal Sentinel has heard from attendees where at least half and often more of the guests at their 10-person tables became ill with intestinal distress.
The Health Division has a list of attendees and where each person sat.
They've obtained a sufficient sample of cases and are following up with interviews, Klimetz said.
The majority of people reported becoming ill Wednesday night and Thursday, she said.
"From everything we've seen, it's been confined to a single meal, a single room and a single kitchen," she said. There's no indication that those affected were in a certain part of the room and only at certain tables, she said.
The Environmental Health Division is working with the Country Springs Hotel in Waukesha, which Klimetz said has been "incredibly cooperative."
In a prepared statement Thursday, Country Springs general manager Nancy Richards said after reports came in to her office Thursday, the hotel reported them to the Health Division. The hotel stopped using the involved kitchen and sanitized it, she said. Staffers who were not feeling well were told not to report to work for 48 hours.
Other guests at the hotel were not affected, Richards said.
Klimetz said she was not aware of any hospitalizations resulting from the outbreak.
.../
http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/93783599.html
<!-- Top banner image here when used -->Norovirus suspected in illnesses from Waukesha luncheon
By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel
Updated: May 14, 2010 1:20 p.m.
<!--startclickprintexclude--><!--endclickprintexclude-->
Waukesha - While the Waukesha County Health Division hasn't ruled out other causes and has no confirmed lab tests yet, a norovirus is a likely culprit behind the gastrointestinal illness reported by a hundred or more people who attended a charitable luncheon at the Country Springs Hotel this week.
"Norovirus seems to be likely," Julianne Klimetz, spokeswoman for the health investigators, said Friday morning. She stressed, however, that results of lab tests on samples won't be known until next week. E-coli bacteria was ruled out as a cause Friday.
Another 50 people who became ill after Tuesday's Women of Distinction awards luncheon had called the department early Friday on the heels of dozens of others reported Thursday.
About 500 attended the lunch, which raised money for the Women and Girls Fund of the Waukesha County Community Foundation and honored women leaders in the county. Anecdotally, the Journal Sentinel has heard from attendees where at least half and often more of the guests at their 10-person tables became ill with intestinal distress.
The Health Division has a list of attendees and where each person sat.
They've obtained a sufficient sample of cases and are following up with interviews, Klimetz said.
The majority of people reported becoming ill Wednesday night and Thursday, she said.
"From everything we've seen, it's been confined to a single meal, a single room and a single kitchen," she said. There's no indication that those affected were in a certain part of the room and only at certain tables, she said.
The Environmental Health Division is working with the Country Springs Hotel in Waukesha, which Klimetz said has been "incredibly cooperative."
In a prepared statement Thursday, Country Springs general manager Nancy Richards said after reports came in to her office Thursday, the hotel reported them to the Health Division. The hotel stopped using the involved kitchen and sanitized it, she said. Staffers who were not feeling well were told not to report to work for 48 hours.
Other guests at the hotel were not affected, Richards said.
Klimetz said she was not aware of any hospitalizations resulting from the outbreak.
.../
http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/93783599.html