On Campus

I dare you to lick Guelph’s fingies

Guelph’s E-coli breakout may have been caused by “improper handwashing”

According to medical officer Dr. Nicola Mercer, a recent outbreak of E. coli at the University of Guelph may have been caused by get this “improper hand washing” — by an ill food-services employee.

Read: somebody didn’t wash their hands and then touched other people’s food.

Apparently, the food at most universities is fine. In fact, Guelph is proud to say that it’s ranked #1 in Canada for Campus food, five years running, by The Globe and Mail’s University Report Card (the lesser, evil-twin wannabe of the Maclean’s Rankings Issue).

This particular strain of E. coli is called 0157:H7, possibly Ancient Biologist code for, “Someone didn’t wash their fingies.” Dr. Mercer, the acting medical officer of health for Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, was quoted in The Record as saying that the strain is“particularly nasty.”

There have been eight confirmed cases, and the outbreak is now believed to be over.

Never mind people from the 18th century: Guelph University is the new standard for minimum hygiene standards. When my ten-year-old brother doesn’t brush his teeth right away in the morning, wafting sweet sewage waste and soggy barn into the kitchen, he’s now, “Pulling a Guelph.”

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