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Norovirus Slams Tourists at Dominican Resort

Source of outbreak still not determined

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

August 17, 2007

That used to be the advice routinely handed out to travelers in Third World countries, including many popular with American tourists.

"Montezuma’s Revenge," a lingering gastrointestinal disorder, was often a souvenir of a visit to Mexico, not to mention a number of Central American countries and Caribbean islands.

The island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, has long been one of those islands.

At a resort called Bahia Principe San Juan, located in Dominican town of Rio San Juan, more than 2,000 guests recently took ill with food poisoning, according to the International Society for Infectious Diseases.

Then a norovirus struck a group of 81 Canadian tourists, inflicting them with diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach cramps that lasted up to 36 hours. An undisclosed but larger number of British guests were also stricken with the resulting gastroenteritis.

Although Dominican authorities initially insisted the Canadians had contracted the virus before they arrived, the local public health agency issued an advisory and the resort stopped accepting new guests. In addition, the Pan American Health Organization started monitoring the situation.

Investigators, including a British laboratory, are trying to determine the source of the problem.

"We need to find out how the virus was transmitted," said health department spokesman Alain Desroches. "We do not know whether it is by water, by food, or by some other method."

Several stricken tourists with tickets to travel home received clearance from Dominican doctors before they were allowed to leave.

The outbreak reached its peak on Aug. 3.

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