Publisher’s Deck: Health officials must report which restaurant is linked to the outbreak

– OPINION –

I have to admit, in 30 years of working in food safety, I rarely recall a health department hiding the source of an outbreak, even norovirus, from the public.

It reminds me of a story from about 10 years ago: After Food Safety News broke the story that Taco Bell was the mysterious “Chain Restaurant A” linked to a Salmonella outbreak that sickened 68 people in 10 states, ABC Evening News praised Food Safety News for shedding light on this story and the problem of government transparency when companies make people sick. Other outlets including the LA Times, Reuters, Daily Mail, The Consumerist, CBS News, Huffington Post, Fox News and MSNBC also praised Food Safety News for shedding light on the mystery taco restaurant. Most recently, Barry Estabrook wrote an article for The Atlantic detailing Food Safety New’s reporting skills, but he praised me and not the people who did all the work.

The San Luis Obispo Tribune reports that a norovirus outbreak from a north county restaurant has sickened nearly 100 people, according to the San Luis Obispo County Department of Public Health. SLO County public health epidemiologist Jessie Burmester said 97 people were reported ill as part of a confirmed norovirus outbreak earlier this month. Burmester said the Department of Public Health traced the “very large and unusual community outbreak” to a north county restaurant, though he did not disclose the name of the business.

“When we do our investigations, we actually look for a common source or point of exposure,” he said. “People have provided the name of the restaurant consistently for all the people who have reported on behalf of the 97 people so far.” Burmester said the Department of Public Health reached its threshold for an outbreak, two cases reported in separate households, on May 15. That day, the agency received more than two reports about the same source of exposure, she said. Follow-up investigation showed that some people experienced norovirus symptoms linked to that facility since May 11, Burmester added.

Once it was identified, the Department of Public Health began working to help eliminate further spread by pushing for “mass cleaning and disinfection” of the restaurant, as well as trying to trace where the cases originated. The restaurant in question has been cleaned three times since the outbreak was first reported, she said. “This has been a particularly challenging outbreak,” Burmester said, “but it’s not abnormal to see norovirus spread this way, because it doesn’t take much of the virus to spread.”

Norovirus is a nasty bug.

Noroviruses cause an estimated 23 million cases of acute gastroenteritis (commonly called the “stomach flu”) in the US each year and are the leading cause of gastroenteritis. Additionally, norovirus outbreaks may be the most common foodborne illness outbreaks. Noroviruses can cause prolonged outbreaks due to their high infectivity, persistence in the environment, resistance to common disinfectants, and difficulty in controlling their transmission through routine sanitation measures.

Norovirus is transmitted primarily by the fecal-oral route, and fewer than 100 norovirus particles are said to be needed to cause infection. Transmission occurs from person to person or through contamination of food or water. Transmission can occur by:

Touching surfaces or objects contaminated with norovirus and then putting that hand to your mouth
Having direct contact with another person who is infected with norovirus and has symptoms
Sharing food or eating utensils with someone who is sick
Exposure to vomit spray
· Eating food contaminated by an infected food handler.