Did anyone else have the same reaction I did to the Olive Garden story, namely, what in the world is a norovirus?
A contagious stomach virus is likely to blame for sickening about 370 people who ate at an Olive Garden restaurant in Indianapolis last week, a county health official said on Monday.
Stool tests of three Olive Garden employees and one customer were positive for a norovirus, a gastrointestinal illness that causes vomiting and diarrhea, according to Marion County Health Department spokesman John Althardt.
Apparently, I don't need to feel too bad about not knowing the term. It's a relatively new description for a whole collection of virus-induced symptoms. They're passed along by -- well, you probably don't want to know, but "stool test" should be a big clue. I have a friend who reads the restaurant-inspection reports every Sunday they're in the paper. If I did that, I'd probably never eat out again.
