<p>I host Thanksgiving every year; this year we had 24 adults and 1 toddler for dinner, 3 adults and 3 elementary school children that came for dessert only, as well as a 5 month old. Of those that ate dinner, 7 became sick today (Saturday) with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and some with fever. I have not heard back from the family with the toddler and infant, but am hoping they are well.</p>
<p>My guess is this is not food poisoning as there isn’t a food that we can say that all that are sick ate, or a food that those that are not sick didn’t eat. Also, while I know it could take uo to 48 hours for some food poisoning to show, in my past experience, people usually get sick within hours. My mother who made a good bit of the food is so worried that she made everyone sick. Other people also brought food, so any food item could have been the culprit. Interesting enough, each family only has one or two people sick; a family of 7 only has one person that got sick.</p>
<p>I would like to believe it is a virus so that no one will blame themselves for the illness. I guess if those of us that are not sick become sick in the next day or two, we can assume it is a virus and we got it from our sick family members. That said, I hope my family will take care of me if I do indeed get sick as well as I have tended to them today If my husband waits for me to sit down one more time, to ask for more Gatorade or another blanket, I might strangle him ;)</p>
<p>I’ve had 2 instances of food poisoning, one moderate and one fairly severe. Both onset within 2 hours of eating. Neither presented with fever. Did anyone show up with influenza symptoms to begin with?</p>
<p>My brother said it was Norovirus, not that he has any medical knowledge! </p>
<p>No one was sick when they arrived, although 2 people ended up with allergy symptoms due to the dogs. When I had food poisoning years ago, I also was sick within a couple of hours.</p>
<p>My husband and daughter both have fever and are very achy; my husband only has nausea, while my daughter and her cousin have had hours of vomiting. My MIL had hours of V&D as well as aches; she didn’t mention fever, but she isn’t known to take her temperature. I don’t have the full details from all the other sick guest.</p>
<p>Most food poisoning shows up from 2-8 hours and there is no fever associated with the illness.</p>
<p>Snowball - I can only imagine how badly you must feel. It sounds like one of those bug that show up almost exactly 24 hours after contact. (like the viruses our kids picked up in day care)</p>
<p>Remind them to keep drinking Gatorade for hydration.</p>
<p>My MIL and 25 year old cousin’s daughter I believe were the first during the middle of the night/Saturday early AM. My 46 male cousin also was ill at some time this morning. The latest were my daughter and father mid afternoon Saturday; this is assuming the rest of us don’t get sick later this weekend.</p>
<p>I really don’t think it is food poisoning, or at least I am hoping it isn’t. Still, I hate to think that everyone got sick under my watch. My daughter is not happy to be spending her time off of work and in town to visit friends and family being sick. At least she doesn’t go back until Monday and she did get to visit with friend before getting sick. My biggest worry is my dad as he isn’t well and can’t afforded to have another illness.</p>
<p>Sounds like an outbreak of norovirus that we had at our house last year at Christmas time! H and I brought it home from a church Christmas breakfast (a number of other families got sick also). Out of the six people who came over for the holidays, 5 got sick. My father had to be hospitalized for a week and then spent 9 days at a rehab place in isolation. </p>
<p>We had one of those Christmases a few years ago, which began with my MIL vomitting within 1 hour of arriving. In the course of 5 days, 7 more of our guest came down with it. I think there were only 3 who never got sick. We think it was norovirus, as it was pretty severe. We’ve gotten noro on a cruise ship, too.</p>
<p>A stool sample could have determined if the illnesses were food poisoning or some other factor. Did anyone need to go to the ER. Similar reactions could be caused by food allergies but it is unlikely that everyone developed a food allergy around the same time or days after eating.</p>
<p>I am guessing norovirus, although I would think more would be sick. The final count this morning is 7 sick of the 31 that were at the house. Only 4 were vomiting for hours, the others were just wiped out and nauseated. </p>
<p>I am holding out that remaining don’t get sick, especially the children and elderly.</p>
<p>This is not a food allergy, that I am certain!</p>
<p>We attended a large business dinner many years ago. We both got terrible cases of food poisoning, which started 36 hours after the dinner for both of us. All the bad symptoms you could think of (no fever). I called the county health department after hearing that others came down with it as well. The health department launched an investigation and questioned all of the several hundred people at the dinner (it was in a hotel). The health dept. never could pinpoint the cause of the food poisoning. There were no patterns in food eaten, seating locations, or wait staff assignments. I was sick for a few days and refused to eat out again for several months. Terrible experience.</p>
<p>My vote is for a virus as well. I have only had food poisoning once, and I had no fever. The symptoms you described match a virus much more closely. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, that probably means round 2 will hit your family in the next couple of days…</p>
<p>If it’s norovirus, it also spreads rather easily between people and through contact with infected people’s possessions. So there may be subsequent illnesses among household contacts of the original people who got ill. With the classic types of bacterial food poisoning that show up quickly (usually Staph), this is not so likely.</p>
<p>Norovirus is the classic “I want a refund” bug that people get on cruise ships. It’s almost impossible to stop its spread, it spreads like wildfire in enclosed environments like cruise ships (and college dorms), and it ruins people’s expensive vacations. </p>
<p>The important thing is to make sure that vulnerable people – little kids, elderly people, those with chronic health problems – don’t get dehydrated. Sometimes, doctors want to see them or even admit them to a hospital overnight so that they can be put on an IV – which is, of course, a monumental inconvenience that no one enjoys, but you gotta do what you gotta do.</p>
<p>In a family I know, an elderly woman living in a seniors’ residence got norovirus or something very similar, and her doctor insisted that she needed to be admitted to the hospital for a couple of days to be on an IV. Her daughter went to her mom’s apartment to pick up some things that the mom wanted to have with her at the hospital. The daughter got sick a day or two later. And then so did her husband. And her college-age son and daughter, who happened to be home for winter break at the time. </p>
<p>Hope everyone feels better soon. Sounds like a virus since you don’t usually have a fever w food poisoning unless something else is going on.
I haven’t had many people ill after a family dinner but it does remind me of the time or two when I had to toss a perfectly browned turkey when the power went out during one of our many Thanksgiving day storms( if I had,had meat thermometer I probably could have known for sure, but better safe than sorry. :o)</p>
If my husband waits for me to sit down one more time, to ask for more Gatorade or another blanket, I might strangle him ;)</p>