Disney guests sickened by mystery illness

[k5jm]

Wash your hands!!!


http://www.baynews9.com/content/new...icles/cfn/2012/7/25/mystery_illness_sick.html

Disney guests sickened by mystery illness
By Adam Longo and Natalie Tolomeo, Team Coverage
Last Updated: Thursday, July 26, 2012 @ 09:38AM

The Orange County Health Department and Walt Disney World are trying to track down what caused dozens of people to become violently ill after taking one of Disney's most expensive tours.

Health department officials said more than 30 guests have gotten sick with some kind of bad stomach bug in June and July.

The link: They were all on Disney's Wild Africa Trek, a paid guest experience that includes a three-hour tour, ending with dinner at a safari-style camp.

The health department found out June 11 and immediately sent inspectors to Disney's Animal Kingdom to check out the food prep areas.

"Two of those inspections showed no problems, no health violations," said Dain Weister, with the Orange County Health Department. "The inspection was satisfactory."

Health department officials say they have things under control, and Disney has begun taking extra steps to deep-clean things that guests touch.

The reported symptoms include stomach cramps and pain, vomiting and diarrhea. None of the guests had to be hospitalized.

Health officials said they believe the sickness could be linked to the Norwalk virus, which is known for hitting schools, cruise ships and assisted living facilities.

The illness also seemed to be confined to this one excursion, and did not affect any other Disney parks or resorts.

"We just don't know if this is something related to food, water, something on a surface they touched, or just passed on person-to-person," Weister said.

The health department has asked Disney guests to take extra precautions and make sure to sanitize their hands regularly.

"No cause for alarm here," said Weister. "We believe this is under control. We're trying to find the source so no one else gets sick."

The health department interviewed hundreds of people as they investigated the sicknesses.

Those people who didn't get sick told health officials they frequently washed their hands or used hand sanitizer

--update

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2952325&highlight=wild+africa+trek

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/...ickened-at-walt-disney-world/?test=latestnews

 

[WaDiWo]

yes, this story made the Drudge Report today www.drudgereport.com, with special mention of the Disboards since the story broke here on the boards a month ago!

 

[saturn5]

My girlfriend and I were at WDW in early may, and we had those symptoms, but we did not take the Wild Trek in AK, we just thought we had drank too much hot chocolate.

 

[jodiey]

The stomach bug has been running rampant in my town in upstate ny. They say it was from the mild winter we had, didn't kill the germs

 

[lauriel79549]

My family of three went on this on June 9th, Me and my oldest daughter were violently ill, my youngest was not. I told the Health Department it had to be the dried meats. One tasted like turkey, the other tasted funny. Now the Ebola virus has struck again in Africa and I hope to God that they didn't give us antelope. No, we wouldn't have the hemmoragic strain of Ebola only the lesser strain of the five,,,, I have read all of the posts and I do agree with the user who said we had the realistic version of an African tour,,,, Now I realize why there are so many deaths in Africa from Diahrrea,, me and my daughter lost 10 pounds apiece.... mine lasted for ten days, my daughter's lasted for twenty,,, she ate the rest of my funky tasting meat!!!! I just want to say thankyou to the first poster who reported this. Our Trek was on Saturday,, and our plane left on Monday, my daughter was almost in tears Monday morning,, I had to give her phenegren in the morning,,, I couldn't go to the ER,, we had a freakin plane to catch,,,,, she slept the entire way home,, thank god!!! The Orange county Health Department contacted us. Please do not think this is the Norovirus,,,, there would have been 100's thousand of people sick,,,, not 30. By the way,,,,, my youngest daughter never ws ill,,,, This is food poisoning,,,,period.....