Posted By Patrick Teyhan
Colleagues, I have been approached by members of staff who have complained that all three are suffering from a stomach bug.

They have suggested that the likely cause is the boiled water, which is drawn from the office Water Cooler for making tea / coffee.

Does anyone have any information / experience on this being the case?

Regards

Patrick Teyhan

Posted By Katie Hoyland
was the person concerned a farmer ?
if so then they may be susceptible to water cooler boiled water. If not then try looking on www.freshnet.com for some advice. Sorry i cant be more help.

Posted By Jeff Manion
Have had experience of a coffe machine / vending machines causing problems.

The type of machine was filtered i.e. you used a bag of coffee (large T bag type) in top of machine put water into vessel, water was heated and passed through coffee filter.
Then coffee was held in jug.
Scenario was that no one could be bothered to change the coffee bag, this became "infected" with bacteria (unknown species) two people who did take coffee had vomiting etc.

vending machine was not cleaned regularly and this enable a build-up of bacteria - no reported illness.
Jeff Manion

Posted By Lance Morgan
Fats is correct.
Boiled water is most unlikely to be the cause of stomach upset.
Most likely some type of enteric viral infection (small round viruses) which tend to flourish this time of year.
Check toilets for cleanliness and remind employees of the importance of handwashing etc.

Posted By James Andrew Scott
The only experience I have of these is when a water cooler was sited near to a window and sunshine on the bottle encouraged bacteria to grow making people who drunk the water ill. This was solved by of all things a giant "tea cosy" supplied by the water vendor to cover the bottle. This type of water has a lot of minerals in and generally is not good for kettles/coffee makers etc.

James

Posted By Jim Walker
Katie,

You are taking the P***

What's this Futchenz bacteria malarky?

How could boiled water differ form any other liquid once it has reached the stomach.

Posted By Katie Hoyland
Keith

thanks for the info on the futchenz bacteria syndrome. The site was enlightening, i didnt realise that neutralisation of the bacteria was possible , so very useful. I have several clients who are arable farmers and susceptible, so this will be excellent info for them.

thanks all the same for the remark fats etc, but no p**s take here. soz

Posted By RP
Just a thought, what do they use to wash cups, etc. and are they left to drain or are they dried. Also there is risk of bacteria growth around any outlet tap from boilers as well as copper from 'cooked' elements. I ask this after talking to a cousin who is in the water industry.

PS- We had a problem with this and the case was solved by instructing the storemen not to use scouring powder to wash cups in!!!!