Still Recovering: A New, Mutant Strain of Norovirus? Maybe not.

Well, with each new incidence of violent food-borne illness this is what the victim is liable to believe. It actually takes a retrospective of one's history of food poisoning to put any given incident or event in a proper context. For me, it means using a V-D index which gives the violence of the two main forms of illness emissions on a 1-10 scale with 10 being the most violent. (e.g. '10' for V could denote projectile events on a par with those seen in 'The Exorcist')

For me the worst ever occurred in December, 1971, in Barbados, while serving in Peace Corps. I had been infected with salmonella that left me reeling for 10- days and for which the only solution was tetracycline which the Peace Corps doc provided. Effect: lost 25 pounds.

V-   9.0

D-   9.0

To say the expurgations were unreal would be putting it mildly. The culprit? (Always important to try to figure out): a bottle of chocolate milk purchased at Bridgetown's main market on Fairchild St.  Looked fine. Smelled fine. Tasted fine. But false cultural assumptions led me to believe the same care would be taken in providing such products as in the U.S. Wrong! No one told me that vendors simply washed out used,  tossed away bottles and refilled them with fresh milk!

Then there were the 'one-offs' - likely not a result of food poisoning but food allergy or susceptibility to one or more components in it.

Columbia, MD, November, 1996

V - 8.0

Occurred just after eating a delicious casserole of Indian food specially prepared by a good friend of ours. I was the only person affected.


Las Vegas, May, 2006

V - 8.0

Occurred just after eating two chocolate chip cookies and carton of milk purchased at the Stratosphere min-mart. Traced to possible moldy cookies - way past the expiry date- and which I ought to have paid attention to if I hadn't been so hungry and desperate for some grub.


Jan. 30-31, 2011 (written about in a blog post at the time)

V- 8.0

D- 7.5

Case of basic food poisoning from eating German potato salad that had likely been left in the fridge too long. (Caution point: Remember to toss out salads etc. that have been in the fridge more than a few days. )


Dec. 26,  2013

V- 9.0

Violent vomiting one off, traced to excess tannins in a red  Merlot wine wifey purchased for the Xmas holidays.  Both of us became ill but unaware of the exact cause at the time we tossed out an entire leftover half pork roast  - believing it was the culprit.

Which brings me to the most recent episode:

April 5-9, 2015

V- 8.5

D- 9.0

My initial reaction is this was too violent and lengthy to be regular food poisoning, and I sensed what it might be from the Monday I put the previous post up. I was right! Without going into all the clinical details here are your best friends for dealing with a norovirus (there are as many mutations as for flu):

- Plenty rolls of toilet paper

- A large basin near the 'throne' .  When you have to vomit you sit down and let it rip because - make no mistake - nasty material will eject both ways. You never want to be just standing up, bending over the bowl!

The culprit? Hard to say.  Since wifey didn't get sick it reduces to one of two foods I ate Easter morning but she didn't: a "Bear claw" pastry purchased at Safeway (open sliding window), or maple pork sausages (frozen pkg) also purchased there.  I lean to the pastry. Theory: It was probably left lying in there for at least a day and who knows how many grubby, germy kids may have put mitts on it when Mom said 'No, we have other stuff'- thereby leaving it out in the open for a poor slob to pick up.

Say one thing say the next, wife disagrees - laying blame on the pork sausages.

Anyway, here are tips to take away if you should have the rank misfortune of getting slammed by something similar:

- Have your loved one stock up on things like Gatorade, soda crackers, applesauce, chicken broth, bananas (mashed). You will need them at least several days maybe more - I am still on this "diet" more or less.

- Make sure to ingest Gatorade to replace lost electrolytes immediately after the first episode. You need to avoid dehydration at all costs - the main source of hospitalization. Some "doc" sites try to say this liquid "doesn't really replenish what you need" but don't buy it! It does work, and look - it's the 'juice' in vogue when you also have to do a colonoscopy prep!

- Water is also essential to keep drinking and most sites (e.g. Mayo Clinic, Web MD) recommend up to 16 cups a day. That can be a huge challenge when you're rushing to the bathroom after just half a glass so one suggestion is to consume it in the form of ice chips -sucked on slowly.

- By the 3rd day or 4th day you will get tired of the limited carbo diet but resist the urge to eat more. I learned this the hard way on Wed. when I thought I was well enough to have at least one hard-boiled egg. I wasn't.

The length and severity of this particular bout had me convinced that I might have somehow contracted a more virulent form of the norovirus - but it may merely have been my immune system is less well equipped to handle it or that the contaminants on the source food were in much greater concentration - causing this to now be going on for nearly five days - as opposed to three.

Does a bout of norovirus confer any immunity? Only in the most limited sense - maybe  6 months, if that. So don't look for any vaccines any time soon. Your best defense is to watch where and what you eat and wash those hands properly after coming in contact with any odd surfaces (norovirus can survive on surfaces up to 12 days).

You live and learn!

Norovirus Strikes --- Forcing A Blog Hiatus

Norovirus is a nasty bug as any cruise line passenger whos's caught it can attest. Well, I was on no cruise line but norovirus came to visit yesterday just as my wife's Easter dinner was about to be served. I ate a little bit, far less than usual - and the whole rest of the day and into the night have been going 'two ways from Sunday' unable to even keep water down. The worst thing is the constant taste of vomit in the throat even after brushing teeth, rinsing out.

I am going to try to drink electrolyte- laden Gatorade to replace fluids and electrolytes but if it doesn't work will likely have to make a trip to urgent care for IV fluids. One thing you can't play around with is dehydration.

So, until next time.

Thom Tillis: Another Faux Liberty Bumpkin Who's Really for Lunacy

The 'uninvited guest' on your restaurant  food - if idiot Thom Tillis has his way. Just one of these noroviruses will have you going both ways for days if you're unlucky enough to receive that burger from some careless food handler- who doesn't believe in washing his hands after a No. 2.

It appears the definitions of liberty have now plummeted to new lows, as we see libertarian twits like Rand Paul arguing that vaccinations can sometimes do more harm than good, and Chris Christie having to walk back recent remarks that "government shouldn't be telling parents to vaccinate their kids."  Oh yeah! Well, let's clarify that in fact governments (mainly of the states) are actually too cavalier in allowing too many vaccine exceptions - including for "personal beliefs" and "religious beliefs". In my day, you could not darken a school door unless you had all your vaccinations and could prove it. That's the way it should be and why a number of diseases were nearly wiped out.

Now, the "liberty" meme has been brought to a new low by the latest lowbrow mutt - a bumpkin named Thom Tillis (R-NC), an actual Senator - which goes to show how low the voting standards are in the Tarheel state. During a Q&A at the Bipartisan Policy Center on Monday, Tillis  described his own history of opposing certain health and hygiene regulations, including those that require employees to wash their hands after using the bathroom.

This cornpone turkey related a story (from his time in the state legislature in 2010),  when he complained that the U.S. is "one of the most regulated nations in the history of the planet," video via C-SPAN shows.  He said:


“I was having a discussion with someone, and we were at a Starbucks in my district, and we were talking about certain regulations where I felt like ‘maybe you should allow businesses to opt out,'"


Tillis said his interrogator was in disbelief, and asked whether he thought businesses should be allowed to "opt out" of requiring employees to wash their hands after using the restroom.
The senator said he'd be fine with it, so long as businesses made this clear in "advertising" and "employment literature."

Yeah, and what if that "literature" is embedded on some barely visible, post-card sized index card with 8-point font tacked up in some corner?

“I said: ‘I don’t have any problem with Starbucks if they choose to opt out of this policy as long as they post a sign that says “We don’t require our employees to wash their hands after leaving the restroom,” Tillis said, adding:

“The market will take care of that!"

Inciting laughter from the audience.

Oh, will it also take care of the all the customers that get norovirus- spawned diarrhea and vomiting? Of course, they will likely never return to said place of business again - whether Starbucks, Chipotle, Applebee's or Olive Garden - but by then the norovirus bug will likely have spread to thousands of others - simply by random contact. (It can survive on surfaces for up to 12 days)

Is this idiot for real? How the hell did he even manage to get to the U.S. Senate?

But it exemplifies the problems we have today with all manner of morons touting liberty when they don't have a clue what true liberty means. For one thing, and in the most basic sense, it means your liberty cannot transgress on my health and welfare. It also means, by extension, it cannot trespass on the communal health and welfare. Since people working in restaurants, and especially those handling foods that will be consumed - are at the critical nexus of disease communicability (including from not washing hands properly) it means they have NO liberty not to wash hands thoroughly. If they do not, and special cameras catch them - they need to be fired Johnny on the spot.

Tillis' version of freedom via non-regulation of hand washing for food handlers and others in restaurants, is therefore not freedom at all but license masquerading as freedom. It thus amounts to sheer lunacy given the adverse consequences to many people if allowed.

But it shows again how our educational foundation has been gutted because too many today are unable to distinguish legitimate freedom from license. It's a shame this stuff is no longer imparted in high schools and colleges, but evidently - given the success of turkeys like Tillis - it isn't.

Just be sure if this character is visiting some restaurant you're at, and wants to glad hand you - you properly disinfect your hands afterwards!

 

Raleigh, NC Highway Ice Fiasco - Blame Greedy Bosses & Corporations!

The news this morning that Raleigh, North Carolina drivers left hundreds of cars abandoned on major highways, and state police responded to 2,000 accidents, is beyond comprehension. Evidently, from an on the spot report by CBS' Wyatt Andrews from Raleigh, workers were expected to show up for work yesterday morning - even when it was known an ice storm approached, but were to be "released early".  The employers evidently  believing their charges would make it back home in time. Didn't these idiots see what befell Atlanta barely two weeks ago? Why didn't they have the sense to tell their workers to "just stay home"?

You do not just "escape" at the last minute from an ice storm! Once it begins to fall, you're screwed! It covers the highways, roads and critical friction is lost, making it near impossible to move. Having been exposed to at least two ice storms, one in Columbia, MD and another in Topeka, KS it is nothing to make bets on. The very news one is approaching means you get your ass off the road, stay inside and remain calm.

In other words, the memo is that you always err on the side of caution. If you're a school superintendent that means you close schools, no ifs, ands or buts. If you're an employer, you inform your employees no need to come to work. So why did Raleigh's businesses have workers come in, as opposed to telling them not to worry?

I do not buy that they were caught 'off guard'. The experience of Atlanta two weeks ago was already fresh in mind or should have been. Also, as the  current storm moved to the NE they would have known Atlanta's businesses already ( the day before ) had told workers to stay home- so why didn't Raleigh's companies do likewise?  The only conclusion is that the greed heads still thought they were operating a slave plantation, and they demanded 'face time' at least part of the day - to ensure their precious profit margins didn't shrink too much.

So, they were prepared to put their workers in harm's way to save a buck. And not one of them evidently wanted to be the first to break rank and tell employees not to come in - to instead stay home, stay off the roads and be safe.

But this is all part of an ongoing corporate tapestry to squeeze every last ounce of work out of employees. It's why American workers now put in an average of 3 weeks more per year than their counterparts did in 1973, and it's why diseases like the stomach bug, aka norovirus, spread - because employers are too chintzy to give workers sick days. If they take a day or two off because of non-stop vomiting - well, they're either fired or they lose their pay for time missed.  So... far better to get customers sick, as at restaurants, and then spread it all over tarnation than to give some down time.

It's also why telecommuting has fallen off.  The vast majority of bosses simply don't trust workers to get the job done at home - despite the fact it would save nearly a half million gigatons of carbon being deposited in the atmosphere each year.

It's also why Americans, despite having 10-14 days of vacation days, don't take most of them. "Boss man" wants them in or doing skypes or whatever, so hey....don't go too far near the beach!  Recall the MONEY report from Jan.-Feb., 2012,  with statistics compiled by Hotwire, American workers were leaving nearly $126 billion total "on the table" (or if you will, in the hands of their employers, companies as unpaid labor) as the value of their total vacation days left untaken. This amount was based on the average of 6.2 days of vacation left unused per worker.

This is absolutely insane! No wonder so many workers are going psycho and engaging either in violent behavior, or shooting up drugs or drinking themselves into oblivion.

As the Money report pointed out, this doesn't even begin to assess the full value that these employees are giving away. Add in the health care spending by stressed employees (mainly those who choose not to take their full allottment of vacation days) and it amounts to "2½ times the figure for nonstressed co-workers" who DO take the days coming to them. This stat from the Health Enhancement Research Organization (ibid.).

Recall here that according to surplus value theory proposed by Karl Marx in his work, Kapital, if the labor value sold as a product or service is L, and V is the labor value embodied in the production of the item or service then the surplus value S is:

S = L - V

If an employee then earns $36,000 a year for generating a service or whatever other labor, and yields 6.2 days of his vacation time to the Boss Man, this translates to roughly $150 per working day assuming 20 such days per month. Then 6.2 days given up per year on average amounts to $930.
The there is the Mother Jones piece: All Work and No Pay on how corporations have actually sped up their processes to wring more productivity from workers, while not increasing their pay. Slavery anyone?

Few American bosses or companies, understand - alas, that they would get more from their workers if they chose to respect the workers' time more. That includes allowing time off for illness, allowing time off to care for a family member - both preferably paid, and allowing workers to take their entitled vacation days without fretting they will be fired or lose a promotion.

Finally, bosses ought to be aware and gracious enough to tell workers not to come in   - not even for a frickin'  morning - if an ice storm is on its way that will put them at risk.

The companies in Raleigh NC ought to have known better than to have put so many tens of thousands in harm's way as opposed to coughing up some of their damned profits.

Let's hope they learn in the future!

Bottom-line Capitalism is Fueling the Flu-Norovirus Outbreak

The norovirus seen up close and personal  

“I’m lucky to have a part time job with no benefits. I take home about $250 a week. Sunday night I got the stomach virus described in this article. I could barely stand up come Monday morning, but was still considering going to work. I didn't. So this week I'm taking home about $190. Oh, and I feed and house a family of five on that. To all those that are on their high horses about people who go to work sick, I can give you my bank account number if you want to transfer some of your gratitude to me.” -  "Paul"  a NY Times commenter

'
In Barbados right now, many people are coming down with the aggressive H3N2 influenza strain as well as the norovirus. But it's relatively contained. Why is this? Mainly because the majority of working Bajans have 21 days sick leave granted by law- hence have time to get well - as opposed to having to go to work to ensure being paid, and then spreading whatever virus all around!

In this country, with work conditions dictated by bottom line Neolib capitalist freaks, a WalMart worker will be lucky to get one day to get over chills, fever, or projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhea (from Norovirus) without being fired. Hence, s/he must show up for work come hell or high water, and as a result, spread his-her infection to any customer within range! This is outrageous and beyond reprehensible. All in the name of what ? Added profits!

It ought to be mandated in this country that every full time working manjack get a minimal two weeks sick days, and if part time- at least one week. I mean DUH! THIS is what is needed to slow the spread of viral disease such as this country is now experiencing - a three way attack from norovirus, 3 strains of flu of which H3 N2 is worst, and pertussis.

According to latest press reports, Influenza  is widespread, and causing local crises. On Wednesday, Boston’s mayor declared a public health emergency as cases flooded hospital emergency rooms.


Google’s national  flu trend maps, which track flu-related searches, are almost solid red (for “intense activity”) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s weekly FluView maps, which track confirmed cases, are nearly solid brown (for “widespread activity”).

Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston started asking visitors with even mild cold symptoms to wear masks and to avoid maternity wards. The hospital has treated 532 confirmed influenza patients this season and admitted 167, even more than it did by this date during the 2009-10 swine flu pandemic.

At Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 100 patients were crowded into spaces licensed for 53. Beds lined halls and pressed against vending machines. Overflow patients sat on benches in the lobby wearing surgical masks.

Nationally, deaths and hospitalizations are still below epidemic thresholds. But experts do not expect that to remain true. Pneumonia usually shows up in national statistics only a week or two after emergency rooms report surges in cases, and deaths start rising a week or two after that, said Dr. Gregory A. Poland, a vaccine specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The predominant flu strain circulating is an H3N2, which typically kills more people than the H1N1 strains that usually predominate; the relatively lethal 2003-4 “Fujian flu” season was overwhelmingly H3N2.

No cases have been resistant to Tamiflu, which can ease symptoms if taken within 48 hours, and this year’s flu shot is well-matched to the H3N2 strain, the C.D.C. said. Flu shots are imperfect, especially in the elderly, whose immune systems may not be strong enough to produce enough antibodies.

Simultaneously, the country is seeing a large and early outbreak of norovirus, the “cruise ship flu” or “stomach flu,” said Dr. Aron J. Hall of the C.D.C.’s viral gastroenterology branch. It includes a new strain, which first appeared in Australia and is known as the Sydney 2012 variant.

This week, Maine’s health department said that state was seeing a large spike in cases. Cities across Canada reported norovirus outbreaks so serious that hospitals were shutting down whole wards for disinfection because patients were getting infected after moving into the rooms of those who had just recovered

And what is our capitalist bastion doing? Allowing all these diseases to spread like wildfire because of not allowing workers ample time to recover. (In the case of norovirus, even after a person recovers from the worst symptoms he can remain infectious for 3 days to a week after!) Oh, in some "generous" instances the companies will allow workers to count sick days as part of "personal" or "vacation" time. Big Deal! That's no bargain because if you're sick 7 days from norovirus (especially the aggressive Sidney 2012 strain that produces up to 14-16 explosive releases of vomit, diarrhea a day) then you're screwed on your vacation time - which is already too low!  A guy who only has 10 days total vacation time then ends up with a whoppnig 3! What's he going to do with that? Oh yeah, watch the tube! (Most other workers across the advanced globe, get 4 weeks paid vacation)

 It is time this bullshit change! It is time 'bidness' step up to the plate and do their part in this unfolding health crisis! The Neolib mutants want us to buy the meme "business is the rightful ruler of society". Well, if this is the way business operates, down with it! We need a new model, maybe based on high jen! More workers on the payroll, fewer work hours and work days - more time for personal development, edification - and 'nuff time to recover from nasty bugs!

WATCH IT! A Xmas-Wrecking Norovirus This Way Comes!

In most of the U.S. corporate media little has been made of it. You'd think it didn't exist! We can, of course, understand how TV news time and column space would be consumed by the Newtown massacre, as well as the "fiscal cliff" (though the latter is more Neoliberal engineered bunkum right out of Naomi Klein's shock doctrine template) but one still wishes SOME attention was paid to it! What am I writing about?

It's the fact that in the last six months the worst ever explosion in norovirus (aka "vomiting bug") infections has seized the world. From Canada to the UK and Germany and from there to Australia and the U.S. millions are coming down with it and vomiting their guts out. Going to a Christmas party? That may well be the perfect trap by which to ensnare you with the bug (actually a virus as the name implies). Just grab some of those chips and submerge them into some of the ranch dip somone carrying a norovirus accidentally touched. Within 24 -48 hours you will be puking your guts out, plus going from the opposite end too. It will last three or so days and in the meantime, you will be dehydrated as nothing will stay down.

You will, in effect, catch what Hillary Clinton also came down with, and why she couldn't attend any of those Benghazi witch hunt meetings confected by the repukes. You will also understand once you get it why she couldn't attend, this apart from the concussion she got after passing out from dehydration!

It is estimated that in the UK alone, 900,000 have already been infected with the norovirus in one or more forms. In Wisconsin it's already running rampant, especially in nursing homes, and is waylaying people in Colorado who have been careless regarding their social interactions. (I learned about the Colorado outbreak in a small 5" column on page 15A of the Saturday Denver Post). Some estimates by the National Health Service in the UK estimate the outbreak is 83% worse than last year. Is it to do with global warming?  It might be!

The sad thing about this virus is its stealth and the fact that those who have gotten sick can infect others up to a week after they themselves have recovered. In other words, they might feel quite fine enough to attend an office or other Christmas party without knowing that each time they accidentally touch that ranch dip or even reach into a bowl with chips or bakes they're potentially infecting dozens of others. Typhoid Marys, anyone? Be aware that even a simple handshake is enough to pass on the virus if the 'infector' hasn't washed his or her hands properly, say after using a rest room (that means at least one minute with soap, lots of soap!)

Even a few bacteria, say hanging around any surface, like the door knob or hand drier of a washroom, is enough to confer infection on the unwary victim. Best advice, thorough - thorough handwashing (until people take you for a germophobe or hypochondriac) after using the rest room for the No. 2, and also after handling any food and certainly before eating.

You also might want to avoid any displayed food that isn't pre-packaged at parties! Just a word of advice, don't want to make anyone paranoid here! But you don't want to waste that Xmas dinner, eh?

My wife and I each contracted a norovirus then making the rounds in Barbados in December, 1991, one month before we left for the States. It was god-awful. I got it first, and within hours was going both ends non-stop. My wife, bless her, tried to clean up after me but caught it after doing so (she needed to have used latex gloves then washed with germicidal soap after). Within a day both of us were so badly dehydrated we had to go to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for intravenous fluids. Many elderly people die because their bodies can't handle the dehydration, they get kidney failure. The rumor at the time in Bim is that the virus got started from a cruise ship passenger or ship worker. Maybe he or she didn't wash carefully and went to a restaurant on the Bridgetown Careenage ....touching whatever....who knows? We do know norovirus infection is the bane of cruise ships.

If your clothing, bed linens do get messed up - and they WILL - you or someone will need to get them washed with bleach at 60 C, no less. You definitely can't let any contaminated linens, clothing lying around. If someone in the house does get infected they need to be isolated and all kitchen wares used by them prevented from circulating to anyone else. Thorough washing needs to be done by everyone, especially the person or persons attending to the sick. That means soiled clothing too! (Norovirus can incept projectile vomiting. It happened to me!)

I hope no one gets this bug during what ought to be a festive time of year, but being in the know will definitely help to limit the probabilities! Maybe avoiding all Xmas parties will also help! (The odds of norovirus infection are in direct proportion to the number of events you attend and the number of people attending).

It's an extreme step....but maybe will pay off! If you ever get it, you'll see what I mean!