 Poster: A snowHead
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Spent a family Xmas in Val D'Isere (Mark Warner) and for second year in a row found ourselves in a winter vomitting bug outbreak (still had a great time). Have just been told by another operator that Val D'Isere is known for this. Is there anything in this idea or would another resort be just as bad? 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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christineS, and Welcome to SnowHeads, our NE branch is growing fast.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Come to think of it my mate lost a days skiing and at nights drinking due to a stomach bug he had in Alpe D a few years back
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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johnboy, hubby was ill on both the holidays we spent in Flaine, he blamed it on cheese fondue the first time, and hasn't touched it since.
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johnboy, I blamed it on the quantity of alcohol he washed the fondue down with  . I think the winter vomiting in ski resorts is all too common though.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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son working in Val D'Isere told me few days ago about chalet belonging to VERY expensive company where bottom floor flooded with sewage, guests told not to use toilets etc, chalet staff had to clean it all up and basic disinfecting undertaken only AFTER guests and staff down with bug. Also company very reluctant to allow sick staff time off to recover, 'cos no leeway in staffing levels. This might be understandable with a rock bottom budget company, but this lot should have sent guests to hotel whilst chalet thoroughly cleaned, not had staff mopping up the sh*t one minute and making dinner the next. I have fear of stomach bugs in our apartment, with only one loo. Am careful about simple food hygiene measures and in four seasons no problems. Touch wood (and then wash hands...)
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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boredsurfin, it is definitely notifiable here, though I suspect thes outbreaks aren't Norwalk which closed my kids school down a few years back. A quick google search found lots of incidences in various resorts.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Where's Kramer when we want him? Oh, I forgot, he's a real doctor and probably wants some time off...
Unlike me...
boredsurfin, doesn't Norwalk tend to be caught from eating raw oysters (or indeed, infected human faeces)? Rare in chalet land surely?? (Educated purely on the internet so please excuse any dreadfully mis-informed comments).
We had a rather nasty outbreak of "gastric flu" in Muerren for Inferno week 2004. I was so ill after 4 hours of D & violent V that I was blacking out while throwing up - had a good 5 minutes unconscious each time. Very worrying first few times it happened and couldn't be left on my own. Ended up going to the local GP for treatment. Managed to race (weakly) the next day though!
My understanding is that this form of viral outbreak is frequently associated with and named after cruise liners. Restricted population, close quarters, etc. gives rise to a local epidemic. Ski resorts clearly fall into the same kind of category I have been given to understand.
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You know it makes sense.
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We experienced an outbreak of some kind of stomach bug in Club Med in Val D'Isere a few years ago. It was amazing to watch the guests going down like ninepins. About 50% of the people staying there got it and were out of action for three days. My wife and I were just waiting for it to happen to us, but somehow we got lucky! The club staff blamed it on a virus in the water! Just goes to show how dangerous water can be
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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boredsurfin, yikes!!
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Poster: A snowHead
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| christineS wrote: |
| Spent a family Xmas in Val D'Isere (Mark Warner) and for second year in a row found ourselves in a winter vomitting bug outbreak (still had a great time). Have just been told by another operator that Val D'Isere is known for this. Is there anything in this idea or would another resort be just as bad? :~/ |
Val d'Isère apparently has problems with its water supply which doesn't agree with non-locals so yes, it is known for this.
However this year, as last, France has a gastric flu epidemic. This seems to strike around Christmas due to the number of people moving around the country.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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davidof, I don't think, for once, that it's fair to single france out...
From an Irish med site:
gastric flu
Gastric ‘flu is a stomach upset that causes sickness mostly vomiting with some diarrhoea. It is caused by a virus, technically named the Norwalk-like-virus (boredsurfin, clearly mild apologies in order!) or Small Round Structured Virus (SRSV) also known as the “Winter Vomiting Bug”. The vomiting often starts very suddenly. The sickness lasts for six to 18 hours and many cases are well enough to go ahead with planned activities after a few hours.
Gastric flu is recognized as an increasing problem and has been the cause of many outbreaks in recent years in Ireland - especially in health care settings and in the holiday industry where large groups of people congregate or are on the move.
Outbreaks have occurred in many parts of Ireland and in different countries and while they involve the community at large they have proven difficult to control in premises where groups of people live (temporarily or long-term).
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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A few years ago I had a similar experience in Courchevel. There was a group of 56 of us in a budget place in 1850, and about 20 were struck down by a 48-hour bug. For some reason it was all boys, except for one girl. Much hilarity and fake accusations ensued!
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The most notorious incident of this type was probably the typhoid outbreak in - of all places - Zermatt in Switzerland.
In February 1963 several skiers came down with typhoid symptoms. By the end of March there had been 300-400 cases (69 British) and the resort was evacuated: all hotels and shops closed. The village school was converted into a hospital, with Swiss Army medical personnel brought in to deal with the crisis. Three fatalities occurred.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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christineS, which MW hotel was it?
I ask, because my son & I were at the Toviere (opposite the Funival) during the week before Christmas and had no problem, nor did any of the other guests AFAIK.
We DID however stay at the Cygnaski last February and at least half the guests were ill, which I put down to the chef serving up part-frozen food.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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rob@rar.org.uk, in that case it was probably spread by faecal means and started in the mens loos.
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Helen Beaumont, thanks. Probably a bit more detail than I needed, but it's always good to have expert opinion here on snowHeads
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A bunch of us all got sick on our last night in Tignes a few years back - we blamed it on the salmon serverd up by our chalet host at the time. Three of the guys felt sick including me, although I thought I'd be fine until I got on the coach and it winded it's way down the twisty mountain roads. I sat there thinking "I'll be fine, I'll be fine, I'll be fine" not wanting to ask the coach to stop - and then it was too late, and the only thing I had to be sick into was my ski jacket....not the most pleasant journey to the airport that one - for me, or my friends! 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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One of our party was sick on the way up to Val D'isere, but I guess that doesn't count. I think it was probably because they watching a DVD on the coach. Serves them right. What's wrong with looking at the view ?
Val D'Isere is famous for its cough but I assume that is to do with the drynesss of the air after being in the damp UK ?
Sometimes drinking new water with a totally different mineral content can upset a finely adjusted stomach. But it would be a bit worrying if they do have other problems with their water supply.
I have heard that some resorts recycle their treated waste water for use in snow production. Could that be a cause ?
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We came back from val d'isere at the weekend, there was about 15 people from our chalet who had a particulalry unpleasant stomach bug, which we blamed on rather poor standards of hygiene in the chalet. My friend is still being sick now. 5 people were struck down at the top of the olympique within 10 minutes of each other. very pleasant.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Peter S wrote: |
Sometimes drinking new water with a totally different mineral content can upset a finely adjusted stomach. But it would be a bit worrying if they do have other problems with their water supply.
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I can only tell you what a Val d'Isère doctor told my wife - apparently there is streptochoccus in the water source; this is not a problem except at peak periods where water use means it becomes more concentrated. No idea why this should be. I personally have never been ill and the locals seem to resist the "Val Tummy" too.
However there are a lot of urban legends in the bubble of ski resorts. I go for the gastro brought by Parisians theory myself. It is very important that chalet hosts wash their hands reguarly when preparing food for guests particuarly when these gastro epidemics do the rounds. While on the subject a friend of mine saw a huge splat in the middle of a ski run the other day - beurk.
Just the change of environment - as you say above - plus cheap French beer and too much fondu could do it for some people.
| Peter S wrote: |
I have heard that some resorts recycle their treated waste water for use in snow production. Could that be a cause ? |
Probably all the Snowmax they put in the artifical snow doesn't help.
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Peter S,
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| I have heard that some resorts recycle their treated waste water for use in snow production. Could that be a cause ? |
Could be, but then you would also probably get sick every time you take a drink of tap water in London, New York or just about any big city that doesn't have a bunch of glaciers at it's doorstep! On the other hand, maybe the Val D'Isere snow makers don't lace the water with large amounts of chlorine 
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You know it makes sense.
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NickB, I think it was the Cygnski - because I was there with wife and 3 year old xmas week - and all 3 of us caught the vom bug one after another. Nasty bug, must admit I suspected the kitchen hygiene as not overly impressed by food.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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One our friends always expected to get a stomach upset on a MW holiday, she was amazed when holidaying with us for the first time (self catering) that her stomach was fine all week. She had previously believed what the TO's reps had told her. 
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Poster: A snowHead
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None of the companies expressed an interest
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Quite possibly because the vast majority of them already do it.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| boredsurfin wrote: |
| David Murdoch, The problem with Norwalk is nobody knows for sure! It is an airborne bacteria and as such is difficult to 'pin' down. |
Just a minor correction - it is not a bacterium, but as you yourself called it in an earlier post, the Norwalk virus. Bacterial infections can be cured by antibiotics, but they have no effect on a virus.
This website states that there are no drugs to treat Norwalk, all that can be done is to maintain fluid levels to avoid dehydration until the infection runs its course.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Let's not forget that when large groups of people from disparate backgrounds come together in a confined space in winter, whilst bringing their children, it would almost be unusual for various viruses not to be spread from one to another. The closed circulation on the plane doesn't help much either, neither does having semi professional, semi trained (for the most part) people preparing the food. It's not food poisoning as such, rather just prime conditions for the spread of viral gastroenteritis.
It doesn't surprise me at all that there are outbreaks in ski resorts at this time, after all there are loads of cases happening at home simultaneously.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Done lots of chalet holidays. Never had a problem. Never seen a guest with a problem.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Kramer, exactly. Our local surgery sent home a GP reg and the triage nurse this morning. I sent home one of our staff this afternoon.
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Hmm, only time in many a year we and another family have been ill, (sounds like a similiar thing) was in Val D'Isere with Mark Warner about 3 or 4 years ago........
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dg3, In fairness to MW this was the only time the food has been dodgy in my experience.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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That'll be the same MW that is advertising in the trade press again this week for Chefs for the Alps.
With an immediate start one presumes
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Hmm...am about to book my first trip to french alps for next year...kinda going off the whole idea now 
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