Daily Tweets for 2010-01-17

2 Responses to “Daily Tweets for 2010-01-17”

1. Rita Kipp says:

   January 17, 2010 at 12:55 pm

   I am concerned that students understand what “food poisoning” is. Even a Google search will show that the term is an umbrella for a variety of pathogens and GI problems. The most frequent kind of food poisoning is Norwalk-like viruses or Noroviruses. Check out Wikipedia on this term. Once a norovirus or a bacterium is in a community, especially a contained group such as a cruise ship, it spreads person to person, not just directly from food. Noroviruses are pretty contagious. We will know more once we get the lab results whether this is a norovirus. It could well be something else.

   Fecal contamination on hands (I hate to bring up a gross subject, but there it is) is one way a Norovirus spreads, so the guidelines we put out about preventing H1N1 would apply here as they do to so many illnesses. Mom was right. Washing hands often and keeping your hands away from your mouth are the best things you can do to stay well. I hope that students understand that this is not just about the food going into their mouths, because watching what you eat is not going to be enough to keep people well if this is a contagious virus or bacterium.

   Reply
2. Patrick_H says:

   January 18, 2010 at 9:17 am

   Apologies Dr. Kipp. I’ll try to use the correct terminology in the future. Also, thanks for commenting on the situation at hand.

   Reply