About 100 students who recently dined at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts are claiming they fell ill after eating dinner there. WHDH reports that Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School students attending their senior prom say that chicken gave them food poisoning.
“I woke up and I was having diarrhea in the morning, unfortunately. I wound up going to lacrosse and I was throwing up during the entire game and had to go to the hospital,” said student Ryan Sutherland, quoted WHDH. Sutherland became sick two days after attending his prom. “I don’t want to blame the chicken, but if everyone who got sick ate the chicken, I think that could be the cause,” Sutherland noted, reported WHDH.
While Boston Park Plaza Hotel acknowledges that the students who ate there complained of vomiting, diarrhea, and fever, it claimed no one else there became sick and stated, “The origin of the illness has yet to be determined and the hotel is cooperating fully with state and local health officials to determine the cause, including preserving any food that was served at the event that remains on property for testing,” said WHDH. Sadly, the illness put a damper on graduation celebrations, said Sutherland, “It was really bad timing. Graduation was kind of a mess. Kids felt really sick during graduation,” WHDH quoted.
Any number of food borne pathogens could be to blame. For instance, an indicator of fecal contamination, E. coli may cause fatal blood poisoning, cystitis, deadly septicemia, and death. Symptoms include stomach cramps and watery diarrhea that may turn bloody within one to three days. E. coli generally taints meat through improper butchering and processing practices and, once released in the body, produces the shiga-producing toxins that have been linked to kidney damage in young children, and can also lead to kidney failure and death. E. coli infection can be transmitted through poor hygiene or hand-washing habits when bacteria in diarrheal stools are involved.
Salmonella can cause serious, sometimes fatal Salmonellosis infections in young children; weak or elderly people; and those with weakened immune systems. Healthy people may experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain, if infected. Without treatment, severe cases can result in arterial infections—such as infected aneurysms—endocarditis, arthritis, and death; however, some Salmonella bacteria are resistant to antibiotics.
Listeriosis, the food poisoning generated by Listeria monocytogenes, is particularly dangerous to the elderly, pregnant women, newborns, those with chronic medical conditions, people with HIV, or those undergoing chemotherapy. In serious cases, the disease spreads to the nervous system, causing headaches, stiff neck, and convulsions and can cause meningitis and blood poisoning in immune-compromised individuals.
Norovirus, a group of viruses that cause gastroenteritis are not helped with antibiotics. People become infected by eating food or drinking liquids contaminated with norovirus; touching surfaces or objects contaminated with norovirus, and then placing their hand in their mouth; and having direct contact with another person who is infected and showing symptoms. People may feel very sick and vomit many times a day. Sometimes people are unable to drink enough liquids to replenish the liquids lost due to vomiting and diarrhea and can become dehydrated and require special medical attention.
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