Health officials in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, said Friday that 86 students at Hatsune-gaoka Public Elementary School in Yokohama were absent Thursday due to a suspected mass outbreak of norovirus.
According to the local board of education, the students felt sick and showed symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea on Monday. TBS reported that the norovirus was detected in five out of 86 stool samples taken from the sickened pupils.
The virus was also detected in six staff. The mass outbreak is likely to have been caused by something in the school lunches, the board of education said.
The school has sterilized the classrooms and decided to provide only hot lunches.
© Japan Today
14 Comments
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smithinjapan
Do these school lunch companies not have health inspectors? Seriously... this is the third mass outbreak in a couple of weeks via school lunches.
cleo
As I've pointed out before, you can wash your hands religiously every time you use the toilet, and it won't stop you getting noro if there are or have been infected people anywhere near you.
Noro is very, very infectious, and if one person in a group of folk all with the same symptoms tests positive, it's virtually 100% certain that all the others in the group have it. The fact that it isn't always detected in the stool of a sick person doesn't mean that it isn't there, just that it wasn't detected. It takes very few little noro nasties to get the symptoms going.
StormR
Something seriously wrong with hygiene here it seems , there are almost daily doses of the screaming sh!ts being reported, Usually due to people not washing their hands properly after using the toilet.
Maybe the health dept if there is such a thing here should be teaching people hygiene practises, especially when handling food.
Many other developed countries require people handling food on a commercial basis to be wearing rubber gloves, maybe they need to look into this.
TokyoGas
Let me tell you something... Many, many, many years ago I met a doctor here and she told me that 0-157 runs rampant through this place. I suspect that there are other outbreaks which never make it to the national media.
warispeace
Why is it that the authorities want to feed cheap, unsanitary, mass-produced food-like substances to some of the most vulnerable members of society, whom we pay them to protect?
dracpoo2
I bet just one person came to school despite having symptoms...I bet it was a no nenkyu taking, no sick day using teacher .
nath
Again from Q-shock-U? Time to start bringing obentos from home and do away with centralized food services for these schools.
Knox Harrington
Impossible. Japanese wear masks so this won't ever happen! What? Ah, masks are just BS? Who would've guessed...?
Carcharodon
School provided lunches only really benefit mothers by saving them from making a bento. It's a shame as a home made bento or packed lunch is likely safer form these mass noro outbreaks and definitely more nutritious and appealing than the cheap low quality carb heavy things that pass for "Lunch" ..."Spaghetti and Bread" day anyone
cleo
No, it doesn't. Neither does elderly male (lack of) hygiene mean that all the noro outbreaks are caused by elderly males who didn't wash their hands after using the toilet - unless they're all employed in the food industry.
Christopher Joseph Ravida
Noro is basically caused by food poisoning. If you look at every outbreak recently it is being blamed on the food. From the outbreaks here in Japan to the Cruise Ships in the Caribbean. I work in a school here in Japan and the kids receive lunches that are cool or cold. Things a normal human wants to be fully cooked and warm. Im constantly seeing cold Karage and Koroke. Noro is also spread by direct contact. If someone gets moro from the food they eat and then they go and destroy the bathroom, unless that toilet is sanitised, that is going to spread to other people.
slumdog
Never seen that.
nath
True, but it doesnt detract from the fact that the hygiene practiced by males here - the elderly in particular - is appalling. Few if any wash their hands properly, if at all. Sure, washing your hands may not prevent you getting noro, but it certainly cant hurt your chances.