Gastroenteritis outbreak linked to reusable shopping bag

[Potemkin]

http://io9.com/5908845/gastroenterit...e-shopping-bag

Gastroenteritis outbreak linked to reusable shopping bag

You know those woven reusable shopping bags we all drag along to the grocery store with us? Well, now one of those has been linked to a norovirus outbreak at a girls' soccer tournament.

Top image: pond5/Awrangler

In 2010, a group of 17 young Oregonian women, aged between 13-14, and four adult chaperones, went to Washington for a soccer tournament, during which eight of them got sick with gastroenteritis — and this small case shows just how incredibly well norovirus can spread. By analyzing the shared habits of this small group, the researchers were able to pin the disease on one thing: a shopping bag that carried the virus.

What happened was that the group were staying together, and when one teenager started feeling sick, she changed rooms and moved in with a chaperone — but before any really bad symptoms manifested. What happened soon thereafter is familiar to anyone who has had food poisoning: the eternally wonderful combination of vomiting and diarrhea. Soon after this happened, her and the chaperone left the tournament — but then more people started getting sick. How did the virus spread, if she was pulled away from her teammates before the illness could be transmitted?

It turns out that in the bathroom of the chaperone was a grocery bag, which contained packaged cookies, chips, and fresh grapes. Those cookies were served at lunch the next day, and all seven of the remaining infected handled the bag in one way or another. It seems that when the virus aerosolized while being expelled and flushed, and settled on surfaces in the bathroom — including the bag.

[Mama Alanna]

So the fact that the shopping bag was reusable is a red herring. ANY sort of shopping bag, once contaminated, could have spread the virus, right?

[jane333]

So maybe E. coli from bad beef or salmonella from eggs is next. And carrying fresh greens and such in a used bag isn't the best idea.

Villagers used to carry a basket for shopping. Maybe it dries out better, or can be rinsed off when contaminated.

[lilly]

Shopped in Switzerland with baskets and string bags. They don't give out fresh bags, you bring your own. At least that was what they used to do decades ago. Small fridges too, so everyone shopped often, small amounts. I used to walk every morning to the bakery, and shop in the afternoon for todays or the next days food. Never got sick.

I won't use resused or recycled bags for food. I use them for everything else, papers books, magazines, mail, and they are handy. But I have read articles that they are unhygenic and full of germs and bacteria and viruses.

[blue gecko]

One sick kid in the same bathroom as a bag containing cookies that were served within 24 hours? Doesn't norovirus hang around for about 72 hours? So then it could have been a teatowel or handtowel or most anything that was exposed then used by an unsuspecting group. Kinda like giving contaminated blankets to the indians. I see this as no worse than putting your purse on the floor of a restaurant then onto your kitchen counter when you get home. It just shows that disease vectors can be anything and that sanitation practices and awareness are the most important deterrent.

[Catbird]

I could have sworn that I posted this but if I did, I can't find it. I guess I only read it. One of the critical things found in the study was that viable norovirus was found in swabs taken from the grocery bag 2 weeks after the index case.

"Norovirus Outbreak Traced to Reusable Grocery Bag "

[blue gecko]

It turns out norovirus' can remain viable for a very long time!

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedic...om/Noroviruses

[CanadaSue]

Reusable grocery bags MUST be cleaned. Often. I have three that I use & they get tossed in the wash when I think about it - which probably isn't nearly often enough.

[Antropologo]

Originally Posted by Potemkin

http://io9.com/5908845/gastroenterit...e-shopping-bag
It turns out that in the bathroom of the chaperone was a grocery bag, which contained packaged cookies, chips, and fresh grapes. Those cookies were served at lunch the next day...

The real problem is that the chaperone stored food in the bathroom. That's against the basic principles of sanitation 101. You don't put stuff you ingest in the same place where you eliminate.

The packaged cookies or chips probably weren't the culprit unless those packages were already open. I bet it was the grapes that were the problem, especially if they weren't washed.

[Mama Alanna]

Originally Posted by CanadaSue

Reusable grocery bags MUST be cleaned. Often. I have three that I use & they get tossed in the wash when I think about it - which probably isn't nearly often enough.

Yep. I have canvas bags that I use. And I KNOW they can be washed in hot water, because I do that before I dye them. http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/en...=clothing.html


The ones that I have are #CAB, but I see that they have ones that are even larger. I don't think I'd get ones that large, though. Someone would probably overpack them, and I wouldn't be able to lift them!

[sandyd]

Would some of the laundry bags work as shopping bags? Seems like they would be easy to wash....

[rb.]

Originally Posted by Antropologo

The real problem is that the chaperone stored food in the bathroom. That's against the basic principles of sanitation 101. You don't put stuff you ingest in the same place where you eliminate.

And yet, just where do we keep our toothbrushes?

[Samen]

Originally Posted by rb.

And yet, just where do we keep our toothbrushes?

Amen

[Kassy]

Originally Posted by Mama Alanna

So the fact that the shopping bag was reusable is a red herring. ANY sort of shopping bag, once contaminated, could have spread the virus, right?

In this one day time frame yes, totally.

(Wouldn't put my groceries in the bathroom either...)

[Potemkin]

Originally Posted by rb.

And yet, just where do we keep our toothbrushes?

The shower?

---------- Post added at 01:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:23 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Mama Alanna

Yep. I have canvas bags that I use. And I KNOW they can be washed in hot water, because I do that before I dye them. http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/en...=clothing.html


The ones that I have are #CAB, but I see that they have ones that are even larger. I don't think I'd get ones that large, though. Someone would probably overpack them, and I wouldn't be able to lift them!

Oh, man, they have plane white shirts for tie dying!

[rb.]

Originally Posted by Potemkin

The shower?

---------- Post added at 01:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:23 PM ----------




Oh, man, they have plane white shirts for tie dying!

The shower? Eeeeeeewwwwwwwww!!!! IN the medicine cabinet, until I started using the Oral B electric one. That said, we are a "close the lid before you flush" household.


Shirts? Hell, they have white EVERYTHING for dying! Think I even saw thong undies at one point? (they are great to deal with...I buy all my cotton fabric for dying from them)

[Mama Alanna]

Originally Posted by rb.

The shower? Eeeeeeewwwwwwwww!!!! IN the medicine cabinet, until I started using the Oral B electric one. That said, we are a "close the lid before you flush" household.


Shirts? Hell, they have white EVERYTHING for dying! Think I even saw thong undies at one point? (they are great to deal with...I buy all my cotton fabric for dying from them)

And great dyes. I have three of what they call "Muck Dyes". These are dyes that were not mixed correctly in some way, so that they cannot be duplicated without a lot of trial and error on their part. That doesn't make them ugly dyes. I got one that they called "Spray-on Tan" and it makes the most lovely golds and ambers that you've ever seen. Also "Flamingo Follies" (salmon pink) and "My Darling Clementine" (orange.)