The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department released a set of statistics showing how wide the food-borne Norovirus linked to Mama C’s spread.
According to the health department, there were a total of 378 primary cases and an additional 40 secondary cases.
In all, there were people affected in 12 Ohio counties. There were also people in four additional states affected by the outbreak.
The shop reopened Monday, following a deep cleaning supervised by the health department.
The health department ruled the virus was food-borne rather than environmental.
Norovirus is the leading cause of gastroenteritis, or what we commonly think of as stomach flu symptoms. It causes 23 million cases of gastroenteritis per year, or over half of all gastroenteritis cases in the U.S., and is the second most common virus after the common cold.
Norovirus is usually transmitted from the feces to the mouth, either by drinking contaminated food or water or by passing from person to person. Because noroviruses are easily transmitted, are resistant to common disinfectants, and are hard to contain using normal sanitary measures, they can cause extended outbreaks.