Illness cluster linked to Disney tour baffles officials
Orange County health officials are investigating a cluster of illnesses
linked to Walt Disney World's "Wild Africa Trek" experience,
a boutique tour in which small groups of people get up-close access to some of
the wildlife in Disney's Animal Kingdom and a catered meal served
on the theme park's manmade savannah.
Investigators have documented "several dozens of cases" of illnesses among guests who took the Disney tour in June and July, said Dain Weister, a spokesman for the Orange County Health Department.
The source of the illness remains a mystery.
"It appears to be some kind of stomach bug," Weister said. "It could be
food-borne, it could be water-borne, it could be something that's passed on
person-to-person, it could be something that's picked up by surface."
Disney has taken several precautionary steps, including "deep cleaning" various surfaces that guests touch, distributing more hand sanitizers, and re-emphasizing hand-washing policies to guests and employees.
"We are working closely with the Orange County Health Department to review the situation," Disney spokeswoman Andrea Finger said...
The county Health Department was alerted to the outbreak on June 11. Weister said the agency immediately inspected the kitchen at Disney World where employees prepare the food served on the trek, but they found no problems.
....Investigators also began contacting guests who took the tour, beginning with those who did so during the first two weeks of June and the first week of July. A majority of the cases they found occurred during the first week in June, though a handful were also found in July, so investigators are now surveying people who took the tour in the latter half of June...
..One of those who posted said he or she was "extremely sick" by midnight the day after taking the tour, with vomiting that lasted for about five hours and pain, cramping and diarrhea that endured for more than a week. Another said his wife had to take him to the emergency room because of complications....
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/the-daily-disney/os-disney-wild-africa-trek-illness-20120725,0,5555612.story
Investigators have documented "several dozens of cases" of illnesses among guests who took the Disney tour in June and July, said Dain Weister, a spokesman for the Orange County Health Department.
The source of the illness remains a mystery.
Disney has taken several precautionary steps, including "deep cleaning" various surfaces that guests touch, distributing more hand sanitizers, and re-emphasizing hand-washing policies to guests and employees.
"We are working closely with the Orange County Health Department to review the situation," Disney spokeswoman Andrea Finger said...
The county Health Department was alerted to the outbreak on June 11. Weister said the agency immediately inspected the kitchen at Disney World where employees prepare the food served on the trek, but they found no problems.
....Investigators also began contacting guests who took the tour, beginning with those who did so during the first two weeks of June and the first week of July. A majority of the cases they found occurred during the first week in June, though a handful were also found in July, so investigators are now surveying people who took the tour in the latter half of June...
..One of those who posted said he or she was "extremely sick" by midnight the day after taking the tour, with vomiting that lasted for about five hours and pain, cramping and diarrhea that endured for more than a week. Another said his wife had to take him to the emergency room because of complications....
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/the-daily-disney/os-disney-wild-africa-trek-illness-20120725,0,5555612.story