Health officials are testing stool samples from runners in the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in Las Vegas who say water passed out during the race made them sick.

Southern Nevada Health District officials are testing for stomach flu and other diseases, and expect results later this week. An online survey they've posted has already drawn responses from more than 800 participants.

The Dec. 4 event drew about 44,000 participants, who paid up to $179 to run a half or full marathon. Dozens of runners posted stories on Facebook about nausea, vomiting and severe stomach pain after the race.

Race organizers had filled plastic-lined garbage cans with hydrant water, which was used to fill cups offered to racers along the course - a standard practice, marathon officials say. Volunteers wearing plastic gloves dipped cups into the garbage cans before passing the water to runners.

While some runners complained that the water tasted odd or unclean, Las Vegas Valley Water District officials say the hydrant water was tested and found to be safe days before the race.

 A container of vomit was found on a shelf at an East Bluff quicky mart in Illinois.

The Peoria City/County Health Department noted in an Oct. 10 report, "A carton containing human vomit was stored on a crate by a display cooler."

Wil Hayes, the department's director of environmental health, said, "We see all sorts of weird stuff. We haven't run into vomit in a while."

Following his schnozz, the sanitarian spotted a plastic bucket filled with throw-up, near a cooler.

"It wasn't in the kitchen area," Hayes said. "But that doesn't make it any less disgusting."

The owner came in and said a child had vomited. The sanitarian wasn't impressed by the explanation. He told the owner to remove the puke bucket.

But owner Joseph Sleh told me that he was a victim of circumstance and timing.

A kid had come into the business just before the sanItarian, then threw up on the floor, Sleh said. Sleh cleaned it up by scooping the vomit into a cardboard box, then put it down by the cooler.

Why not get rid of it? Why set it out inside the store?

"I was here by myself," Sleh said. "I couldn't go take it outside (to the Dumpster)."

There's no place else to throw it away, inside?

"No."

Years ago, at another business, the department found a similar situation: a container of vomit on a shelf.

"An employee had gotten sick the day before, and went home. Everyone thought he'd thrown it out before he left."

Pantagraph.com reports that more than 35 members of the Illinois State football team were stricken with a stomach virus this week that caused them to miss practice.

“The carnage ended up being about 50 people, coaches, trainers, players, managers. It was unbelievable. I’ve never been through that before,” said Coach Brock Spack. “But what doesn’t kill us makes us tougher and better.”

“Some of the volleyball players are sick. I’m hearing some other people on campus are sick,” Spack said. “I was one of the victims. It’s not a lot of fun. It’s pretty intense for about 24 hours.”
 

You can earn some credibility holding back a woman’s hair while she vomits; you can lose credibility when a 2-year-old vomits all over the car seat, and then while attempting to clean it up, you vomit in response, like in Stand By Me (see below).

I’ve done both.

Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control investigated a 2009 outbreak on a cruise ship and concluded infected passengers were significantly more likely to have an ill cabin mate, and to have resided or dined on the deck level where a vomiting incident had occurred during boarding.

That’s right: someone barfed while passengers were boarding the ship and just watching and trying to contain that little bit of throw-up that just happened in your mouth was a statistically significant risk factor.

Questionnaires about when people did or did not seek medical care, hygiene practices, and possible norovirus exposure were placed in every cabin after the outbreak began. The ship had 1,842 passengers on board, and 83 percent returned the questionnaires. Of the 15 percent of respondents who met the case definition for acute gastroenteritis, only 60 percent had sought medical care on the ship.

Less than 1 per cent of the crew reported illness, and their low attack rate may have been due to the few crew members who had direct contact with passengers. This included separate sleeping and dining areas and alternate passages for boarding and exiting the ship.

"Cruise line personnel should discourage ill passengers from boarding their ships," according to study author Mary Wikswo, MPH, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Once on board, passengers and crew who become ill should report to the ship's medical center as soon as possible. These quick actions are crucial in preventing the introduction and spread of norovirus on cruise ships and allow ship personnel to take immediate steps to prevent the spread of illness."

What I conclude, based on this and other studies, including our own, is that telling people to wash their hands has almost no effect -- and that the best way to control the spread of norovirus – on cruise ships, in restaurants, in schools – is to break the infection cycle because these noroviruses are crazy infective: stay home, isolate yourself, tie your hair in a bun, and barf away.