Two songs amid the “vomit chaos” in the Canary Islands | Sweden

Over the Christmas weekend, there were repeated reports of Swedish and Norwegian tourists on holiday developing severe stomach illnesses. One resident of Umeå wrote that her condition was so bad that she had to be treated with a drip and penicillin in hospital Fasterbottens Kuririn.

Agneta Flodström landed on the island of Gran Canaria at the beginning of December to spend Christmas in warmer climes. Just days before Christmas Eve, she became ill.

– I felt very bad and at first I did not know what had happened to me, she says:

-At first I thought it was food poisoning, but because I had a headache and fever, I understood it was vomiting.

By all accounts, it was the highly contagious norovirus — also known as winter sickness — that causes symptoms such as vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea.

Agneta Flodström was bedridden for several days, and describes that she did not feel fully recovered until after the Christmas holidays. There were so many sick people in the hotel that she didn't think it was possible to avoid infection herself.

“I may have been infected when one of my neighbors vomited in the pool, but a lot of people here snore and cough, so it was inevitable,” she says.

More islands affected

According to travel companies Apollo and Ving, the infection has been concentrated in Gran Canaria, but two weeks ago, when Swedish Helen von Heideken and her husband landed on the neighboring island of Tenerife, she became ill with vomiting.

-I got sick after just two days with high fever, vomiting and everything. “Then a few more days went by and then my husband got sick, sicker than me,” says Helen von Heideken.

Here too the infected became very bad.

– We could hear how people in the rooms around us in the hotel were lying down and vomiting. Some poor people even spat in the hotel dining room, says Helen von Heideken.

– I don't doubt for a moment that it was a stomach bug, and that this applies to all the Canary Islands.

The couple contacted Tui who confirmed that the stomach bug had disappeared on the island, but would now disappear.

However, the travel company wrote to Expressen that it is not aware of any cases of illness at all.

“So far we have not received any reports of TUI guests suffering from stomach upset due to norovirus“, wrote Anne Mörk-Loengren, Director of Communications.

Current medical condition

In the week before Christmas, about 20 of the Swedish Apollo passengers, and about 10 of the Venges, became ill. In the intervening days, she seems to have calmed down a bit.

“The situation has stabilized significantly and this is of course a good thing. Most of our passengers who fell ill have recovered or have returned home on regular flights.”“, wrote Martina Krantz, Apollo's press officer.

Anna Hagberg, chief press officer at Ving, wrote:

“We currently have only one traveler who we know is sick in one of our hotels in Gran Canaria. We have not confirmed this, but everything indicates that it is the so-called norovirus.”“, wrote press officer Anna Hagberg.