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: 3, Funny) by deadstick on Friday February 09 2018, @02:27PM (1 child)
The gags will write themselves...
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Friday February 09 2018, @06:18PM
Gags, indeed.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Friday February 09 2018, @02:34PM (3 children)
Could be useful to reduce the annoyance of suffering from the disease.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 5, Funny) by LoRdTAW on Friday February 09 2018, @02:43PM (1 child)
So long as the toilets can be equipped with skates or skis I think they'll be fine.
(Score: 4, Funny) by The Archon V2.0 on Friday February 09 2018, @03:25PM
> So long as the toilets can be equipped with skates or skis I think they'll be fine.
Not even necessary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDXTjb68_io [youtube.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Friday February 09 2018, @03:09PM
Advanced bidets are of little consolation when your digestive tract contents are being forcibly expelled from every available orifice. In the short term afterwards, the body is so drained that sitting upright for "servicing" is more effort than it would be worth.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Sourcery42 on Friday February 09 2018, @02:36PM (11 children)
The department I used to work in once went to a mandatory training where some bad sandwiches were served (see, there is no free lunch). The rest of the week 1/2 to 3/4 of engineering is out sitting on the toilet while holding a trash can. It sounded utterly miserable. I was one of the lucky ones who was unaffected. After witnessing that mini-outbreak, I shudder to think how poorly this could go when you cram in all these extra athletes and spectators into small areas; temporary housing and facilities could be put to a serious test.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Friday February 09 2018, @02:44PM (7 children)
It's high time we gave bacteria and viruses the support they deserve. We can do that by bringing people from all around the world and crowding them together. And if they stay for the full duration of ~16 days, that's plenty of opportunities for them to defecate in shared restrooms. And the host city only has to pay billions of dollars for this. #Microbes
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(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]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday February 09 2018, @03:40PM (1 child)
If you're not suffering, you're likely a carrier...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @05:25PM
And the real fun doesn't start until the Olympics are over and all the infected carriers of the disease return home to their cities spread out over the globe.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @11:03PM
They need to hold the Olympics on a cruise ship.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Friday February 09 2018, @02:55PM (3 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @05:18PM (2 children)
What?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @06:18PM (1 child)
Do you need a drawing?
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Friday February 09 2018, @07:42PM
A video or animation would be more instructive than a static drawing.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @03:53PM
Even cafeteria workers? They eat their own food, and of they don't properly wash their hands, they can infect a lot of others.
(Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Friday February 09 2018, @05:00PM
Let's see if I can beat my best time!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @07:43PM (2 children)
Toilets mist poo into the air. For many at home, this gets the toothbrushes and cups. In public, it floats over into the next stall.
It wasn't always this way.
A proper toilet slowly adds at least 5 gallons (19 liters) of water to the toilet bowl. The poo is flushed by the weight of the water pressing down, not by the kinetic energy of high-speed squirting. You don't need several flushes and a prayer.
The next best alternative is probably a non-stick pipe leading to a disposal bag, with an exhaust fan to solve the odor problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @09:02PM
Change bag to tank, and fan to vent and you've got a portajohn.
(Score: 4, Informative) by termigator on Friday February 09 2018, @11:00PM
Closing the lid before flushing helps. It's a practice everyone in my family follows.
Unfortunately, public restrooms rarely have lids on toilets.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Friday February 09 2018, @07:44PM
This sounds like the kind of weapon that NK could use. Inexpensive. Not high tech. But effective. Use it at an event concentrated with people who will shortly disperse to all parts of the globe to infect their respective populations.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @09:39PM
blah blah blah another shithole country blah blah blah
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 10 2018, @06:17AM
And please take FIFA with you.