快猫短视频

NEXT time a trip to your local eatery leaves you with a bout of food
poisoning, don鈥檛 simply blame slack hygiene in the kitchen. The culprit could be
a fellow diner.

Public health scientists investigating an outbreak of viral food poisoning at
a hotel in the English Midlands found that one person who vomited at the dinner
table spread infection right across the restaurant. The scientists now believe
that many unexplained cases of food poisoning may have their source in vomit,
which appears to be astonishingly effective at spreading viruses.

The investigators, from Southern Derbyshire Health Authority, were called in
to track down the cause of the outbreak at a hotel in Derby, where 126 people
sat down to dinner at six tables in December 1998. During the meal, one of the
diners was sick. Hotel staff quickly cleaned up, and the meal continued. But
three days later other diners started falling ill. In all, 52 people reported a
range of symptoms, from fever and nausea to vomiting and diarrhoea.

When the scientists scoured the hotel kitchen for the source of infection,
they came out empty-handed. The real culprit began to emerge when they plotted
the seating arrangement of those who became ill.

More than 90 per cent of the people on the same table as the sick woman later
reported food poisoning. And among people on other tables there was a direct
correlation between their risk of infection and how close they were to the sick
woman. More than 70 per cent of the diners on an adjacent table fell ill. At the
table right over on the other side of the restaurant, the rate was still 25 per
cent.

鈥淲e were absolutely flabbergasted to get so clear a relationship,鈥� says Roy
Fey, one of the researchers. People who fell ill 鈥渟eem to have inhaled or
swallowed the infection agent鈥�, he says

The outbreak is being blamed on a Norwalk-like virus. These viruses are a
common cause of food poisoning. The researchers concluded that the woman brought
the virus into the restaurant.

Fey and his colleagues have since come across similar cases, including one on
a cruise liner. They suspect that virus-laden vomit may be the cause of many
mysterious food-poisoning outbreaks. To prevent infection, restaurant staff may
need to clean up a much larger area than they do now around someone has who
vomited.

Bernard Betts, director of the Microbiology Research Unit at York University,
says the finding highlights the need for clinical-standard hygiene, even in
restaurants. 鈥淭echnically, it can be quite difficult to deal with these
incidents effectively,鈥� he says. 鈥淛ust a single drop of material hitting a hard
surface can produce an aerosol that travels a very long way.鈥�