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Alarm grows as norovirus outbreak explodes at Olympics; cases quadruple in days:
From Tuesday to Thursday night, cases of the highly infectious bug leapt from 32 to 128.
With the opening ceremony set for Friday, an outbreak of the highly infectious gastrointestinal bug norovirus already has a solid lead at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in South Korea.
In just a few days, official case counts have nearly quadrupled, according to multiple reports from The New York Times. The tally was 32 just two days ago but quickly climbed to 86. Then another 42 cases were confirmed by Thursday night, bringing the total to 128 around the Olympic sites.
Officials at the games first announced the outbreak of the virus—also called the "winter vomiting bug"—on Tuesday. Security personnel were the first to test positive, and about 1,200 of the security staff were sequestered in their rooms at the time. About 1,100 people, some non-security personnel, were still in quarantine on Thursday. South Korea deployed 900 military personnel to make up for the quarantined security workers.
But the infection has now spread beyond the security staff to Olympics Organizing Committee staff, venue personnel, and even cafeteria workers.
[...] No athletes are known to have been infected.
Norovirus is a particularly tenacious and pernicious bug. It's generally spread by the fecal-oral route—which can be direct or via food, beverages, surfaces, or air. Viruses can linger on contaminated surfaces for up to two weeks and survive heating, cooling, and some disinfectants. They can also be easily aerosolized, such as by a toilet flush. As few as just 18 of the wee germs can ignite a gut infection, which sheds billions of viral copies in feces and vomit. Infected people tend to be sick for one to three days with diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps. Viral shedding can continue after symptoms clear.
As someone who has experienced this, I can only hope they track down and eradicate it quickly. Being at the toilet all day and needing to continually decide if one should face it or sit on it is no fun at all. So far, no athletes have come down with it, and I hope it stays that way. I can only imagine the heartache of spending years training for this once-in-a-lifetime event... and being sidelined by a bug.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Friday February 09 2018, @03:43PM (6 children)
The Olympics is just a blip on the mountain of global commerce/travel that happens every single day.
Just consider trans-oceanic flight: hundreds of people from all over one continent locked in a small pressurized capsule for 8+ hours, sharing a half dozen tiny toilets, then dispersing widely across another continent - repeat this process hundreds of times a day...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Friday February 09 2018, @04:54PM (3 children)
There's a reason why governments shutdown international travel in "Plague Inc. : Evolved" (PC Game). It's why you need to make sure your virus has spread most everywhere, before you really start killing off the population. Otherwise, you end up with some random tiny island that hasn't been infected, surviving. Yes, it's a macabre game, but it's interesting. It's like the antithesis to "Pandemic" (Board Game).
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @05:19PM (1 child)
If you're going to make reference to something potentially interesting, please make the small extra effort of including links [ndemiccreations.com].
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @05:56PM
Can we please stop with the geek shaming?? ;P
(Score: 3, Funny) by Snotnose on Friday February 09 2018, @06:59PM
I play Plague Inc on my droid. When I tell people what the goal of the game is (kill 100% of the humans) they give me a horrified look. But it's a fun game, and definitely a challenge.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday February 09 2018, @06:06PM (1 child)
Most people on planes don't celebrate a victory or drown a defeat by mingling with the other excessively attractive people who surround them.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday February 09 2018, @06:49PM
Nope, on planes it's far less glamorous, you simply touch the same bathroom door/toilet/faucet handles, and breathe the same air.
🌻🌻 [google.com]