Security guards at the Olympics are violently ill and vomiting, and officials are worried about a highly-contagious outbreak
- 1,200 Winter Olympics workers were sent to their rooms after they got violently ill. They're being tested for norovirus.
- The infection is highly contagious and circulates in contaminated food and water.
- People can also easily spread the illness if they don't wash their hands after going to the bathroom.
Officials at the Winter Olympics worried about dismal ticket sales and bitterly cold temperatures may have another problem on their hands: a stomach-churning norovirus outbreak.
1,200 Olympic workers had to be quarantined in their rooms this week as they waited for norovirus test results to come back. Already, 32 security guards are being treated for norovirus, the Associated Press reports, and officials have brought in 900 military personnel to replace the workers, whose symptoms include diarrhea and vomiting.
Norovirus, the most common cause of diarrhea in the world, is the same infection blamed for hundreds of illnesses at Chipotle restaurants in 2015 and 2017.
Symptoms, which occur between 12 hours and two days after exposure, stem from inflammation in the stomach and intestines and in addition to diarrhea, can include stomach pain, fever, body aches and vomiting.
Most people can recover from a norovirus episode in a few days without treatment, just by drinking plenty of fluids. But babies and the elderly, as well as people with compromised immune systems, can suffer severe hydration and need medical attention. According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, thousands of people wind up in the hospital with norovirus every year in the US, and hundreds die.
Drinking and cooking water tests in Pyeongchang taken over the past five days have turned up negative for the virus so far, the AP says. Sasha Rearick, head coach of the US men's ski team told USA Today that the team has its own compound with separate chefs, and athletes wash their hands a lot.
How you get norovirus
The virus sheds from the feces of infected people and animals. You can get norovirus from eating contaminated food, drinking contaminated water, or by putting hands contaminated with the virus (usually found in feces or vomit) in your mouth. Norovirus is a pretty hearty virus: it shows up in stool samples before people start feeling sick, and can stay in feces for two weeks after you feel better, according to the CDC. It sticks around on surfaces, too, so you don't have to come in contact with someone else's skin to get it.
Norovirus is happy in both hot and cold temperatures and not easy to wipe away with disinfectant either, the Mayo Clinic says. Most people are still contagious up to two days after they start feeling better.
The stomach flu thrives in closed environments like on cruise ships, in nursing homes, and around daycares. But there are recent reports of the illness circulating at athletic events, too. Last year in London at the world athletics championships, the virus quickly spread through one hotel, and several athletes had to withdraw from the first days of the tournament, The Guardian reported.
And it's not just a problem in cramped quarters. The CDC says that norovirus causes 19 to 21 million illnesses in the US every year. 56,000 to 71,000 people have to be rushed to the hospital, and 570 to 800 die. The illness is responsible for one in every five diarrhea cases worldwide.