Nearly 400 people ill after attending Kansas dinner theater

[January 29, 2016]  By Kevin Murphy

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Nearly 400 people have reported feeling ill after recently dining at a suburban Kansas City dinner theater, with some testing positive for norovirus, health officials said on Thursday.

The diners who fell ill had eaten at the New Theatre Restaurant in Overland Park, Kansas since Jan. 15, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said in a news release.

Laboratory tests confirmed that four people who became ill had norovirus, which commonly causes stomach pain, diarrhea, and vomiting, health officials said.

Representatives for New Theatre could not be reached immediately for comment on Thursday. Rob McGraw, vice president of sales and marketing for the theater, told the Kansas City Star newspaper that three employees and one customer they served had tested positive for norovirus but no employees who worked since Jan. 17 had reported becoming ill.

Norovirus has been linked to illnesses suffered recently by dinners at Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants in California and several other states.

The U.S. Justice Department said earlier this month that its consumer protection unit was looking into a norovirus outbreak at a Chipotle restaurant in California.

The Kansas state health department urged anyone who went to the theater to fill out a survey as part of its investigation into the outbreak.

Norovirus is spread from one person to another through contaminated food or water or by touching a contaminated surface, the department said.

(Reporting by Kevin Murphy in Kansas City; Editing by Paul Tait)

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