Over the Christmas and New Year holiday period, Perry Scott Nash Associates operated an emergency telephone service for its clients and a number of calls were received from hotels and holiday complexes regarding potential food poisoning outbreaks. On scrutiny of the details, it seemed that most were infections caused by the Norwalk/Noro Virus.
The Noro Virus is the most common cause of infectious gastro-enteritis in England and Wales. It causes a relatively mild illness but can attack all ages. Immunity is short-lived, so you can be re-infected. The illness is often called winter vomiting disease. Outbreaks are common in restricted or confined environments.
Nearly 90 per cent of cases are spread by person-to-person contact. The virus can be spread via contaminated food and water supplies, but is more likely to be spread by people, via the faecal-oral route after people have been to the toilet.
Symptoms of the virus, which include projectile vomiting, usually last 48 hours or so.
Managing an outbreak effectively is critical to containing it, and if you should experience an outbreak of winter vomiting in your business, you should implement the following steps:
- Isolate anyone infected from others
- Follow good personal hygiene standards
- Wash hands frequently with bactericidal soap
- Disinfect/sanitise all surfaces that the infected person is likely to have come into contact with, e.g. door handles, cistern flush handles, taps, phones, crockery etc
- Disinfect all soiled laundry
- Wear disposable gloves
- Ask food handlers to complete a health questionnaire; if they have any symptoms they should not handle food for at least 48 hours after symptoms have stopped
- Staff with symptoms should remain away from work until 48 hours after symptoms have stopped.