Outbreak of illness at Celtic Hall of Fame dinner may be result of virus

There may be an explanation as to why hundreds of people became ill after attending the recent Glengarry Celtic Music Hall of Fame dinner.

During an interview with The Review in Hawkesbury on Friday, June 10, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, medical officer of health with the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU), said the health unit is still investigating the incident.

"We don't have any definite answers right now, but we are investigating and taking this very seriously," he told The Review.

The dinner, which was held at the Bonnie Glen Pavilion near Alexandria on Friday, May 27, attracted a large crowd of 300 people. Following the event, numerous attendees fell ill with vomiting and diarrhea.

Roumeliotis said the health unit has contacted every individual that attended the dinner and while a large number did become ill, not everyone was sick.

"That's one of the reasons it has taken us so long to investigate this matter," he commented. "We had 300 people to contact and that takes a lot of time. It's a real challenge to get a hold of that many people and find out what their experience was, if any."

While Roumeliotis said the cause of the illness is still unknown, tests of the food premises and food served at the dinner reveal the sickness was not the result of e.coli or food poisoning.

"We can say at this point that it wasn't food poisoning or e.coli for certain," he stated. "I know people were very concerned that it was food poisoning, but we can safely say that was not the case."

He said he suspects an oral viral infection, like norovirus, could be to blame for the outbreak of sickness, but could not confirm that suspicion last week.

"As I mentioned, we are still investigating," Roumeliotis noted. "As soon as we know what caused this, we will inform the public."

To read the rest of this article, please see the June 15 edition of The Review.