Stomach flu outbreak hits 52 workers at Fukushima nuclear plant

Dang. Too slow! I was going to post about how the "actually radiation-related" comments are going to pour in. Stomach flu IS contagious, so if they're changing into their protective gear in the same room, I could easily believe that they all became infected.

BTW, anti-radiation protective gear (at least the stuff being used by the workers) isn't going to protect against a norovirus. The gear they're using is designed to protect against alpha particles - essentially airborne dirt. Viruses are much smaller.

It's strange that only 3 have tested for norovirus. There's also an outbreak of something in a prison in Sakai (Osaka) at the moment, I hear. In the Fukushima case, close quarters, poor nutrition, immunity weakened by exposure to radiation are probably all contributing factors. But again there's something going on in Sakai halfway down the side of the country.

Workers find lethal radiation levels at Fukushima Daiichi, August 02, 2011. The reading at the base of a ventilation tower between the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors Monday afternoon was 10,000 millisieverts per hour, the Tokyo Electric Power Company announced -- high enough that a 60-minute exposure could kill a man or woman within weeks. So where were the 52 workers doing the radioactive cleanup.

Not true japan_cynic there is a KNOWN hotspot on site that was off the scale at Daiichi.

It's far-flung because the "hotspots" have been completely negligible in terms of acute radiation sickness - the possibility is of a modest rise in the long-term cancer risk. It's pure fantasy to think that people are going to start dropping like flies.

and with all the Hotspots cropping up I don't see how radiation sickness is so far flung as to not be even a thought after reading that only 3 of the workers tested positive for the norovirus.

Isn't J village the workers housing location and from the photo I've seen it looks like they have private living quarters. So the only place I would suspect them getting infected from food born norovirus is from a cafeteria on location of the work site. Although only 3 tested positive for this illness.

It's possible that their immune systems have been weakened for some reason. That reason could be something as simple as stress from cleaning up the mess at Fukushima or it could be from exposure to radiation or lack of sleep, bad diet or countless other things.

The fact that they all got sick at the same time seems to suggest they work/live in close proximity to each other, so it was transmitted quickly and to many.A lack of hygiene in their living quarters/work quarters wouldn't help them any.

Having said all that, if anyone is going to have problems arising from Fukushima radiation, it's going to be these guys. You can count on the government to hide it from you. For as long as they can.

i hope they get well soon T~T ganbatteyo!

I don't blame them for having the flu, and every other ailment. Who wants to do that job. And yes, everytime someone gets sick at the plant it should be news.

You'd think they would have so much protective gear, that the chance of getting the flu would be lower.....oh wait, it's TEPCO....like they have quality protective gear... @Pamelot, rotflmao....you speak the truth ;-)

So now every time someone who works at this plant gets sick, it will make the news?

Must be something in the water...

Three of the workers have tested positive for the virus, a common form of flu.

Only 3 of the workers tested had the flu virus. So what about the other 49 workers who became ill. Did only those 52 workers eat the same food or drank the same fluids out of everyone in the facility? Did they all touch the same surfaces that may have been contaminated with the norovirus? Let's think, deduce and reason out the information given instead of just believing it because TEPCO says it is what they say it is.

52 workers cleaning up radioactive waste (and therefore all wearing the appropriate gear, unless TEPCO is cutting corners again) all contract a virus that no one else in the nation is getting en masse like that at the moment? Perhaps it IS just a virus and they contracted it in crappy washroom or unhygienic eating facilities, but the problem is the announcement comes from TEPCO, so it's simply impossible to just accept it as the say it is with no doubts whatsoever.

Is it so hard to believe that some people get flu in December ?

A little too coincidental for me to believe it's really a stomach virus. After all the coincidental cancers that have afflicted TEPCO workers this year, I find it hard to believe that this is not, in fact, radiation sickness. Just saying. It makes more sense.

When i read the title, i thought: "of course someone is going to claim they have radiation sickness".

A lot of tired / stressed people living within very close proximity to each other, mainly men, well, viruses are going to take their chance. Keep the workforce healthy TEPCO, you need every single on of them as. do. we. お大事に。

Tepcos honesty is the problem.. because they have lied so many times no one believes them. bit like the boy who cried wolf...

Tepco's credibility is nil. This is the company that announced a meltdown, took it back the next day, reconfirmed it three months later and then waited until the end of November to admit it had melted through to within 37 centimeters of the bottom. This is the company that blows off the discovery of fission-caused isotopes with short half-lives that can pretty much only indicate recent fission. Conspiracy theorists aren't the problem.

Stomach flew!! Is that a joke! It`s more like a radiation sickness that the Japanese government is trying to cover up by calling it a stomach flew. More lies by TEPCO and the Japanese government!!!

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant said Saturday that a norovirus outbreak is suspected.

Noroviruses most common symptoms of acute gastroenteritis are diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain. It's spread from person to person, through contaminated food or water, and by touching contaminated surfaces.

oberst: radiation sickness does have the same symptoms, I'm wondering too. Cause the workers may have been doing radioactive waste cleanup and that has been halted due to the illness of the workers.

Watch the conspiracy theorists crawl out again...

Sounds like a worker protest over working conditions.

sure it's not radiation sickness ?