Summer Camp Illness

[CapXK]

Our troop just returned from Camp Tres Ritos, a small camp in the mountains of northern New Mexico that is operated by the South Plains Council. While we were there a veritable plague swept through the camp -vomiting, diarrhea, etc. This went through the staff, Scouts and Scouters. From what we can determine the camp had an outbreak of "Norwalk" or norovirus - otherwise known as "cruise-ship disease". We had the exact same thing happen 4 years ago at Camp Pioneer in Arkansas. Needless to say these sort of experiences tend to cast a shadow over the fond memories the Scouts have for summer camp. Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing? Or is my troop just blessed with experiencing first-hand the reasons there is a Public Health Service?

[wagionvigil]

Yep and it usually happens when the dining hall fails to follow proper dish washing proceduers

[CapXK]

No dining hall - patrol style cooking. We think it spread through the Trading Post with contaminated money.

[deweylure]

At this point do you know if the localhealth inspector was notified or the CDC.

Hope the scouts have all recovered.
I have never experienced an illness of this magnitude. When I first read the post I immediately thought poor sanitation or a food borne illness. The food from the supplier and the water are the only common threads.


Dewey

[deweylure]

I forgot to mention the virus does come from the ingestion of contaminated water ,food or touching surfaces. These are contaminated by fecal matter.

I would use this as a learning experience for the scouts especially handwashing,and sanitation.

Dewey

[wagionvigil]

One thing I started doing was taking a large container of hand sanitizer and keeping it where everyone could use it. I also recommended to all parents to buty a personal container for their son to carry in their day pack. The boys were informed that they were to use it after visiting the latrine and before each meal. If we had snacks etc in the camp site everyone had to use it before we put out the treats.
At the NJ each porta john and restroom facility had a container/s in them.

[CapXK]

Everybody has recovered. My wife and son were the last two to come down with the illness - one on the drive back from New Mexico and one an hour after we got home. We had hand sanitizer (after the outbreak we had it in spades) and we were washing our dishes with the wipe clean, wash soapy, cold rinse, disinfectant rinse, boiling rinse method. All the food was in original packages except for precooked beef. The latrines were in sorry shape - flies might have been landing in the pit and then on food stuffs. I believe that you can also get infected from the vomit and there was plenty of that. We were pretty stringent with the kids about sanitation, even before the outbreak. I supervised our cooks and we had a very clean operation. We had kids with chapped hands from washing and sanitizing. Believe me, I think they all learned the importance of camp sanitation. I was told that the county was notified on Thursday (which was day 4 of the outbreak). I have yet to see any mention of the illness on any of the New Mexico websites. I am rather surprised because the camp (luckily, not my troop) had to transport at least 10 Scouts into town to be hospitalized for dehydration. As I said, two outbreaks at two different camps in 4 years seems a bit much (especially since my son and I have come down with it both times).

[jacobym]

I am a staffff member at pioneer for the last 2 years and i have worked in the dinning hall last year our camp health inspecter was in 2 times a day at least and we never had problems .............. but 1 time this year when i went with my troop there was 1 day were half the camp got sick due to something with the corn dogs...... but it only lasted 1/2 day


Caddo Area Council Mena Arkansas
Camp Pioneer Mena Arkansas
Pioneer Forums
Troop 92 Mena Arkansas

[wagionvigil]

If I was looking at a camp That is something I would be looking at. How Much Camp Illness Have they Had? Food,Water,restroom facilities are the big culprits. If doing patrol cooking and I follow all the rules and we still gett illness then it is water supply or rest room facilities. I would look for another camp.Seems to me that that is a lot of people to get sick from dirty money.

[CapXK]

"Has there been any illnesses at camp?" has just moved to the top of our list of questions. The water supply might be the culprit but the chlorination system seemed to be working (according to the staff - if they can be trusted). The council responsible for the camp is getting a pretty strong letter from the troop leadership. Our Scoutmaster and one other ASM still have fond memories of this place from previous visits but the consensus from the rest of the adult leadership is to never visit this camp again. There are other mountain camps in New Mexico and Colorado that we will be checking out.

[wagionvigil]

what about your council camp?

[CapXK]

The boys decide where they want to go and the council camps are always listed for their consideration. Virtually all of our monthly campouts are done at our 4 council camps (3 of which have a summer program). All of these camps are within a 2 hour drive from Dallas. I know the programs are fine and most of the troops attend them. Frankly, it's nice to go someplace different, with more spectacular scenery than North Texas. The day and a half trip to NM and CO is an adventure for the younger Scouts. Also, camp is much more enjoyable with daytime highs in the low 80's (usually 70's) as opposed to the high 90's or century mark.