CTV News reports a suspected norovirus outbreak doesn’t seem to have stolen business away from The Bicycle Thief. The popular Halifax restaurant re-opened today after a four-day voluntary closure and it was packed at lunchtime.

“It was tremendous, I just had my meal with a glass of wine and it was wonderful, glad to see the restaurant back open,” says customer Peter McDonough.

A recent gastrointestinal virus outbreak closed both The Bicycle Thief and Ristorante a Mano after at least 26 staff and customers reported feeling ill on the weekend.

The virus likely originated on a cruise ship, the Carnival Glory, which docked in Halifax on Aug. 9 with dozens of sick passengers onboard.

Businesses along the waterfront say they weren’t made aware of the norovirus outbreak onboard the boat and Gordon Stewart, executive director of the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia, says more needs to be done to prevent another outbreak from happening in the future.

Currently, there are 53 reports of people having norovirus-like symptoms in the Halifax area. Those who are sick say they fell ill between Aug. 14 and Aug. 18.

An outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness at the Stanhope Beach Resort and Conference Centre last weekend is being investigated by the Department of Health, according to P.E.I.'s chief health officer.

Dr. Heather Morrison told CBC News about 60 people had symptoms of nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps or diarrhea after attending events at the resort. Morrison says it could possibly be a norovirus-like illness.

“No cause has been identified to date. Food histories have not identified a likely food source of the illness. And no bacterial cause of the illness has been identified to date,” she said.

The health department says there were three different weddings at the resort on the weekend.

Audrey Firth, the general manager of the resort, says the facility has always maintained a high degree of cleanliness in all parts of the property and has re-doubled its efforts to ensure this doesn't happen again.

There are now 26 cases of what appears to be a norovirus-like illness connected to a popular and upscale Halifax restaurant.

Everyone who fell ill either works at The Bicycle Thief or ate there last week. As restaurant owners and inspectors attempt to identify the source, a second restaurant owned by the same group was also closed as a precaution after two workers there became ill.

It appears those infected may have come into contact with the norovirus, but health officials won’t confirm that because they have yet to secure a sample from an infected individual.

Geoff Harris just returned from the London Games after competing in the 800 metre sprint and ate at the restaurant Friday with a friend. By Saturday, they had both fallen ill.

The owners of The Bicycle Thief released this statement to CTV News today:
We would like to thank our loyal customers, the community and the Halifax restaurant industry for their tremendous support of our initiative to contain the Norwalk-like virus that seems to be making its rounds in Halifax at the moment.

As an entirely precautionary step, we've decided to close Ristorante a Mano today.

In Jan. 2009, the beginnings of the world’s largest known restaurant-based norovirus outbreak began to take hold in Heston Blumenthal’s fancy pants Fat Duck restaurant.

A new report in Epidemiology and Infection reiterates much of what was known at the time and summarized in a subsequent U.K. Health Protection Agency report, but still hammers home the point that a series of errors can culminate in a lot of people barfing.

About 591 in this outbreak.

The report doesn’t mention The Fat Duck by name, but rather, states the restaurant “uses an approach based on the principles of molecular gastronomy, prepares and serves unusual dishes using what it describes as innovative methods.”

Nice dig.

“The complex nature of food preparation in this particular restaurant, with extensive handling of foods, requires excellent food management systems to ensure safety. Two of the 22 food samples taken from the restaurant were contaminated with E. coli and Enterobacteriaceae, reported to be an indicator of a breakdown in food hygiene practices.”

Ouch.

This was after the restaurant failed to notify public health types as dozens of complaints poured into the restaurant, hired its own food safety consultant, did a deep clean, and then temporarily closed.

The figure (bottom) is particularly instructive.

Once the health types got involved, they started testing some staff and ill diners; even late in the outbreak, six of 63 staff members tested positive for norovirus (44 were tested).

“Diners were infected with multiple norovirus strains belonging to genogroups I and II, a pattern characteristic of molluscan shellfish-associated outbreaks. The ongoing risk from dining at the restaurant may have been due to persistent contamination of the oyster supply alone or in combination with further spread via infected food handlers or the restaurant environment. Delayed notification of the outbreak to public health authorities may have contributed to outbreak size and duration.”

Norovirus in raw shellfish, especially oysters, is nothing new. But the amplification of risk by a series of dumb assumptions (we can contain this) and omissions (don’t tell anyone) is staggering.

“The size and duration of this outbreak exceed any other commercial restaurant-associated norovirus outbreaks in the published literature. It is hoped that lessons learned from this outbreak will help to inform future action by restaurateurs especially in early notification to public health authorities once an outbreak is suspected.”