PORTLAND, Ore. If you save plastic grocery bags for uses around the home, health workers say you should sanitize the bags first.
The Washington County Health Department says it has traced a norovirus that sickened members of a Beaverton girls' soccer team to a reusable grocery bag the girls passed around when they shared cookies.
The next day six of the girls fell ill with severe gastroenteritis - vomiting and diarrhea.
Kimberly Repp, an epidemiologist with the Washington County Department of Health and Human Services, says she recovered the bag from the owner and discovered the virus on the handle two weeks later.
Repp recommends people clean reusable grocery bags in a washing machine or with sanitizing wipes.
The outbreak occurred in October 2010. The Journal of Infectious Diseases this month published the investigative report.
