Travellers’ diarrhoea hits Olympics
Ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics, which is due to begin on 9 February, dozens of staffers in Pyeongcheng have been quarantined and the South Korean military deployed following an outbreak of norovirus.
With around 1,200 security staff having been quarantined and being tested for norovirus, the South Korean military has taken on the role of security. “The military personnel … will be responsible for security checks of the 20 venues as they take up jobs such as security searches, previously done by civilian safety personnel, until the patients’ condition is normalised,” said a statement from the South Korean Olympic committee.
The Korea Center for Disease Control (KCDC) suspects that food and water are the main culprits of the infection and sources are being examined to ascertain the root of the outbreak.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), travellers can protect themselves by carefully washing hands and food, and avoiding food and other surfaces that a sick person may have touched.
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