Japan: 1000 School Children Infected With Norovirus

HAMAMATSU—Three female workers at Hamamatsu, bakery were identified as carriers of norovirus. The bakery is suspected to have been the cause of a mass food poisoning that affected many primary schools in the city, according to the Hamamatsu city government.

The city government announced Sunday that workers at Hofuku, a company that produced bread deemed to be the cause of the norovirus outbreak, were found to be infected with the virus.

According to the announcement, the three infected workers handled the bread when they inspected it on Jan. 13, the day the affected food was produced.

Yoshinao Terada, chief of the city government’s living and health section, said at a press conference, “It is highly likely that persons with the virus took part in the production process leading to contamination of the bread.”

The city government has been conducting analyses of the feces of 23 company employees who were involved in bread production on Jan. 13. The norovirus was not detected in samples from the 13 of the 16 workers for whom analytical findings have been reported.

The company explained that the three workers from whom the viruses were detected appeared to have no issues with their health or had shown any symptoms. The company ordered the three workers to stay home from work and specialists began sterilizing the plant.

The most common symptoms  of norovirus are diarrhea, throwing up, nausea,  and stomach pain.Other symptoms include fever, headache, body aches.

If you have norovirus illness, you can feel extremely ill and throw up or have diarrhea many times a day. This can lead to dehydration, especially in young children, older adults, and people with other illnesses. Most people with norovirus illness get better within 1 to 3 days.

Symptoms of dehydration are decrease in urination, dry mouth & throat and  feeling dizzy when standing up. Children who are dehydrated may cry with few or no tears and be unusually sleepy or fussy.