Health officials have released details about an illness that struck patrons at a central Ohio resort.
Everyone who's gotten sick visited the same place – Long’s Retreat, about 80 miles southeast of Columbus.
It's a summer getaway for thousands. People come to the resort to splash in the water, camp out and play.
“On a good day, we probably have close to 3,500 here on the beach,” Director Of Operations Brya Long, said.
It’s a 45-year-old tradition in Pike County.
The Fayetteville-Perry High School Band has held its camp at the resort for 7 years. The kids love it – but not everyone made the trip this year.
“I had two parents that decided not to send their children,” band teacher Cynthia St. Clair said.
News broke a week ago that people may have gotten sick after visiting Long's. The Pike County Health District got involved immediately.
“We’ve interviewed about 330 people as of today,” Health Commissioner Matt Brewster said.
140 people had symptoms of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
“We’ve got 14 lab results, out of those 14, there are 10 that are positive for shigella,” Brewster said.
A bacteria similar to E. coli and norovirus.
“It’s a fecal-oral route but if somebody’s not washing their hands, it can be transferred from person to person very easily,” Brewster said.
The Health District can't say that's definitely what everyone had, and there needs to be more testing. They also can't single out Long's Retreat for certain -- but everyone affected had been there.
“It’s hard, we’re a family business,” Long said.
Long says the family takes this very seriously. Anything people could touch, from go-karts to carousel horses, has been cleaned.
The drinking water and sewer system were tested and cleared by the EPA. And nothing was found in the food operation.
The state requirement is to test the lake water weekly for E. coli. That has been done consistently and it has passed. Further testing will now be done to check for other possible contaminants.
All of this has taken its toll on business.
“Just number-wise, we’re down about half from this time in 2015,” Long said. “We’re fully cooperative and we hope to very much get the issues resolved very quickly.”
The Pike County Health District still needs to hear from anyone who has visited Long's Retreat since June1. The number is 740-947-7721.