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Kent Phillips / wdwnews.com
Several dozen people apparently were sickened after visiting Walt Disney World's 'Wild Africa Trek' attraction at the Florida theme park. Health officials are investigating the outbreak.
Several dozen people have been sickened by a mystery illness linked to visits to the “Wild Africa Trek” tour offered by Walt Disney World in Buena Vista, Fla., local health officials said Thursday.
“Hundreds” of people have been questioned so far in connection with the cluster of flu-like illnesses detected in early June, said Dain Weister, a spokesman for the Orange County, Fla., Health Department.
Visitors who took the three-hour boutique tour -- which includes nature hikes, crossing a rickety foot bridge, sightings of giraffes, hippos and other animals and a catered snack on a manmade savannah -- came down with symptoms including diarrhea, abdominal pain, fatigue and nausea, Weister said.
“The thing we’re trying to get everyone to understand is this is some kind of stomach bug,” said Weister, noting that no specific pathogen has been identified.
Though the symptoms may resemble those associated with infections such as norovirus, that bug usually causes more vomiting than victims reported, Weister said.
Most of the illnesses occurred during two days in early June, he said, adding that he didn't know the exact dates. No one has been hospitalized. Victims ranged from children to adults, including entire families.
Health department officials learned of the outbreak on June 11. Inspectors immediately reviewed Disney's food service operations -- and found no concerns, Weister said. Disney officials have conducted a thorough environmental cleaning, added more hand sanitizers and reiterated hand hygiene instructions for employees.
“We are working closely with the Orange County Health Department to review the situation,” said Disney spokeswoman Andrea Finger.
The Wild Africa Trek is offered several times each day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, part of the Florida theme park. Groups of no more than 12 “trekkers” travel through areas of the Harambe Wildlife Reserve that aren’t available to usual visitors. Guests pay $139 to $249 a person for the tour, on top of regular admission, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.
The Animal Kingdom theme park attracts some 9.8 million visitors each year.
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Sounds a little Goofy to me. Must have accidentally fed the guests mouse burgers. Has anyone seen Mickey lately?
It would be a good idea to do a surveillance sweep of the area for ticks that carry disease (so, they should look for ANY ticks).....and to test them ALL for Tick Borne Diseases like Lyme, Bartonella, Babesia.
'catered snack' is the first clue. Sounds like they ate something that was off - and of course no one can detect it now. It was served, it was eaten, it's gone. Not really news.
They got a taste of Africa all around... plenty of sickness there...
Every time a sixness exposes itself, it is blamed on Africa, what you people never seems to understand is everything comes from Africa, not just bad things. Your very computer uses the spoils from Africa. I think the biggest desease is western civilisation and their quest to be world leaders. Truth is they are always leading us into one peril or the other, because they never learn. All the deseases in the world do not account for all the wars and deaths that is exposing the blood on American hands. I am still wondering why you people are in Africa, you should be running from that place with so much deseases.
yeah, no blood on Africa's hands. An entire continent with no poverty, no starvation, no war, no disease.
I lost 3 days of a 7 day vacation after a jeep tour of this exact location to the exact same symptoms. That was 2 years ago. A day or so later every other member of my 12 person party came down with this.
Something like Norovirus. Very easily spread and impossible to prevent the spread once it's going around places like amusement parks, cruise ships, dorms, etc.
I've never had it, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.
I'd be looking at the catered snack, who prepared it and where. I'd also be checking to see if there were any animal rights activists on that tour.
Sounds like this tour is one heck of a sh*tty experience.
Since the county health dept is involved I expect they took "you know what" samples and cultured them to find the culprit (campylobacter, e-coli, etc).
Maybe the catered snack wasn't cooked enough.
Some anagrams for Wild Africa Trek:
A raw lick I'd fret
I'd fear Walt, Rick.
Raw lick, fart, die
It's definitely some type of colonic cryptovirus - considering that the whold Disney "experience" is a bunch of BS, which can't be purged due to their tight-essed policies (kicked Santa Claus out the other day). So it sits and gets more toxic, until it blows up and expels something like Britney, Miley or Justin.
Micky and Minnie are spreading the hantavirus.