Suspected food poisoning Virgin Sydney lounge

[RobertFF]

Hi all,
Three members of our family flew together and ate breakfast at the Virgin lounge in Sydney on Sunday 19 January 2025. (We all had the scrambled eggs.) Over the next three days, typical of the incubation period for salmonella in different individuals, we all fell incredibly ill.
I initially suspected a norovirus, which we could have passed to each other at home, but then nobody else in the household (or other friends) except the three travellers were afflicted, which points to food poisoning as far more likely than an infectious virus.
We didn't eat on the flight home, and then when we got home, more people than the three travellers all ate the same meals after that.
So, I'm not necessarily blaming the lounge, but interested to know if anyone else experienced illness after visiting the lounge last Sunday.

 

[drron]

Food poisoning is usually quicker in onset. 3 days later is usually an infection. yes the bug if caught at a food establishment can be salmonella and often due to a worker who is a carrier though it could be another customer with poor hand hygeine.
As to Norovirus basically it can be picked up nearly anywhere eg your hotel door knob so you can't discount it.

If you suspected salmonella you should arrange for a stool culture - really the best way to know if it is indeed and acute salmonella infection.

 

[Forg]

Salmon Ella … didn’t he play for the Raiders in the 90’s?

Food poisoning generally takes only a few hours for you to notice the effects, but being infected by the Salmon Ella bacteria can apparently take a tad longer as it can hang around longer than it normally takes food to pass through from one end to the other. Buffets in general are a breeding-ground for it, it’s just normally in small enough concentrations that most of the time most people’s immune systems take care of it before it has worse effects.

 

[DC3]

Three members of our family flew together and ate breakfast at the Virgin lounge in Sydney on Sunday 19 January 2025. (We all had the scrambled eggs.) Over the next three days, typical of the incubation period for salmonella in different individuals, we all fell incredibly ill.

Welcome to AFF. Very unfortunate that you all became ill.

 

[oz_mark]

I always thought the lounge scrambled eggs were made from powdered eggs.

 

[RobertFF]

Food poisoning is usually quicker in onset. 3 days later is usually an infection. yes the bug if caught at a food establishment can be salmonella and often due to a worker who is a carrier though it could be another customer with poor hand hygeine.
As to Norovirus basically it can be picked up nearly anywhere eg your hotel door knob so you can't discount it.

If you suspected salmonella you should arrange for a stool culture - really the best way to know if it is indeed and acute salmonella infection.

Thank you. The first case came on within 24 hours. The next over a couple of days. The last victim was, by a generation, the youngest and by far the fittest. This fits within typical salmonella timeframes, even if on the longer side of average, but still not unusual for a small dose.
Norovirus is extraordinarily contagious but nobody else got it except the people who travelled (even those who shared actual drinking vessels with them were ok). This makes it pretty unlikely to be norovirus.
In any case, I'm not looking for a diagnosis here, just wondering if others in the same place had the same symptoms, which is also a pretty robust method of determining the source.

 

[drron]

So quite possibly norovirus. We had one trip when Mrsdrron got it with D&V, 2 days later I had severe diarrhoea - got to know every public loo driving from Noosa to Buderim - and then our son who just had the vomiting.

 

[DC3]

I always thought the lounge scrambled eggs were made from powdered eggs

And powdered eggs come from real eggs. And, salmonella and other bacteria still sometimes take up residence in powdered eggs.

Apparently, while salmonella should theoretically be absent from powdered eggs, it sometimes grows if the product has been fermented to remove glucose to create a more stable product with a better flavor and color. Even though the drying and pasteurization process should kill excess salmonella, it sometimes shows up in the finished product anyway.