MILLIONS of pilgrims flock to Lourdes each year seeking healing from waters that flow from the grotto where they believe visions of the Virgin Mary appeared.But this year the French town is being blamed for making visitors sick.
An outbreak of norovirus infection — known as the winter vomiting bug — has hit tourists from several countries, including Ireland.
Between mid-September and mid-October, nine clusters of the infection involving about 90 primary and more than 100 secondary cases were identified in the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy and France, all linked to Lourdes pilgrimages.
Norovirus causes acute gastroenteritis. The impact of the disease is more serious among the elderly and infirm, who make up a large proportion of those who travel to Lourdes.
This year, the 150th anniversary of the apparitions, visitors increased from 5m to 8m, peaking around the time of the Pope’s visit on September 13. As pilgrims do each year, Pope Benedict XVI drank water from the spring famed for miraculous cures.
While the waters have not been ruled out as a source of the infection, experts believe it is more likely to have been transmitted through the air from person to person.
Three clusters have been identified among Irish patients: one involved 40 infected in Lourdes in late September; another involved 20 cases infected there between October 1 and 15. The third cluster was also in October and involved two people. One patient was taken into hospital, leading to 11 secondary cases on wards.
An outbreak at a mental healthcare institution for the elderly in the Netherlands has also been linked to Lourdes. A health worker and patient contracted the virus and on their return it spread through the facility. Almost a quarter of the 550 patients and staff showed acute gastroenteritis symptoms. Four people died, with norovirus reported as a contributing factor.
Philip Brady, a GP who travelled with the Franciscan pilgrimage between September 22 and 27, said: “It is a worry that the helpers that go to Lourdes work in hospitals and acute settings and . . . that they could be the vector to bring it back to where they are working.
“Lourdes was particularly crowded this year because of the special year. There were some quite ill people that I saw. They were treated in the hotels. Normally people recover within 48 hours.”
Anthony Geraghty, 55, from Athlone, a voluntary worker who has been to Lourdes more than 30 times, was one of those affected. “I picked it up on the Wednesday and was sick on Thursday. I would have been around people who weren’t sick and now realise that maybe I passed it on to them.”
Paul McKeown of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre said: “When someone with norovirus vomits they might produce 30m viruses per millilitre of vomit and it only takes 10 to make you sick so it is extremely infectious.”
The virus incubates for two or three days so people can spread it before they realise they are sick. “It survives strong bleach, it will survive 60C,” said McKeown.
“It can survive in the environment for at least two or three weeks. Whenever people vomit . . . it forms a mist and can travel quite a distance. If someone vomited in a room and it wasn’t properly cleaned and someone touches a surface . . . that is the most likely way it is spread.”
The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands is investigating the four deaths in the mental institution to find whether norovirus was the causative, or contributory, agent for death, according to Linda Verhoef.
The most likely source in Lourdes was person-to-person transmission, she said. “The water was investigated for bacterial contamination and was okay according to those standards. Unfortunately it wasn’t tested for viruses. Usually when it is a water-borne outbreak there are more strains involved. The strains we have are alike.
“Because this year was an anniversary, the hotels were not prepared for this number of people. Maybe their working method was different because of that. We think that may have contributed to the outbreak.”
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(Source: TTO)