Politicians Among 24 Sick After Lunch

Posted on 6/14/2016 4:14 PM by Pete McIntyre 107.5 KISSFM
Health officials are looking into the cause of at least two dozen cases of gastrointestinal illness by people who attended a dignitaries lunch during Lumby Days. Vernon mayor Akbal Mund, RDNO chair Rick Fairbairn and MLA Eric Foster are among those who have gotten sick since the luncheon Saturday. Interior Health Medical Health Officer Dr. Silvina Mema says they are investigating a possible cause from the food product that was served. "It was a luncheon attended by about 75 to 80 people, and of those, we know at least 24 are sick. The symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea, and fever that developed some hours after," Mema tells Kiss FM. Dr. Mema says they in the process of interviewing people who got sick, and talking with people that catered the lunch. "We are going to do an inspection of the facility that catered to the luncheon to determined if there was any potential source of infection at that site." Mema says they are still not sure what the source was. "From the symptoms we are hearing, we think this could be Norovirus or the stomach flu."