Norovirus found in suspected food poisoning cases at 2 Taipei restaurants

Taipei, April 9 (CNA) Norovirus has been found in tissue samples collected from several individuals who fell ill after eating at two Taipei restaurants last week in suspected food poisoning cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Tuesday.

However, the finding has yet to be definitively confirmed pending further verification, CDC spokesperson Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told a news conference.

She said noroviruses are highly contagious and commonly spread through food or water contaminated during preparation or contaminated surfaces, while they can also be spread through close contact with an infected individual and cause severe vomiting and diarrhea.

In a statement, Taipei City's Department of Health said that as of Monday night, 82 people had sought medical attention on displaying symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea after eating at Truewow and Xiang La Spicy Hot Pot, both run by Wowprime Corp., an increase from 22 recorded over the weekend.

The department said Taipei City Hospital has established special food safety out-patient clinics at its Renai and Zhongxing branches through April 15, urging members of the public who ate at the two restaurants last week to book appointments with the hospitals if they exhibit related symptoms.

After collecting environmental samples from kitchen utensils at the two restaurants, the department ordered them to suspend business on April 6 following hospital reports about suspected food poisoning related to the two outlets over the April 2-5 period.

Meanwhile, a possible food poisoning case occurred at an outlet of Bafang Dumpling in Beitou District, in Taipei, when a family of four reported vomiting and developing diarrhea after consuming the eatery's corn soup and dumplings on the evening of April 7.

City health officials conducted an inspection of the outlet's kitchen on Monday, where fans in its freezer and food shelves were found to be dirty, according to media reports. Three samples from the kitchen were collected and the business has been instructed to make improvements before April 11 or be fined.

Meanwhile, Bafang Dumpling said improvements have been made at the Beitou outlet and it remains open before the cause of the suspected food poisoning incident has been determined.

Also on Tuesday, a group of 39 tourists from Shulin in New Taipei were being treated for suspected food poisoning in a case in southern Taiwan, according to Chiayi County's health bureau, based on a report from the local Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital earlier in the day.

Twenty-five members of the group were taken to the hospital for treatment on Tuesday morning due to gastrointestinal symptoms after having had lunch in Tainan on Monday, with five hospitalized and one transferred to another facility, county health bureau chief Chao Wen-hua (趙紋華) told CNA.