India - Delhi belly and Plaza Premium lounge at IGIA T3

Has any one every got sick from food at Plaza Premium lounge in DEL T3?

I generally manage pretty well while travelling in India, but wasn't so lucky this time.

The first time I got sick was in Joshimath, on my way to Badrinath. I could not trace it back to a specific meal. Usually stomach bug takes about 12-36 hours to manifest itself, speed dependent on the level of hydration. A tell tale sign for me is more gas with burp leaving a taste and smell of eggs.

I ate Chicken on the 12th night for dinner in Rudraprayag and when I woke up in Joshimath on the 14th morning, I was sick. There were two other meals in the intervening period. I drank bottled water, and ate in Dhabas, avoiding milk products such as paneer, yogurt etc. I saw a doctor in Joshimath and took the prescribed five day course of antibiotics. beginning with 13th afternoon, my burp made me suspect I might be sick. Sometimes my body can handle it and the symptoms are confined to a buirp. But this time, I was not so lucky.

I was fine after that even though I had to eat in Dhabas in Badrinaath, Chmoli and Rishikesh until I returned home on the 19th.

I left DEL on the 23rd night. I was busy all say on the 23rd and didn't eat anything after lunch. For years, I have not felt like eating dinner on the day of departure from DEL. After checking in, I went to the Plaza Premium Lounge and decided to sample their food. I tried some salad, rice and chicken. When I woke up on my way to AMS, My burp had the classic Delhi belly sensation. Fortunately, the bug had not worked it's way to the bottom while went on to IAD. The burp symptom continued until the bug finally made it to the "bottom" at just about the 36 hoir mark after I ate at PP lounge.
I ate some cheese and lunch meat at the KLM Crown lounge in AMS during the 7 hour layover in AMS. I am inclined to not point fingers at the lounge food in AMS as the burp had started before I ate at the lounge in AMS.

The likely culprits are Business Class food on KLM flights or the PP Lounge food. The only food item that's common to what I ate in Rudraprayag and in PP Lounge is chicken. If it's chicken, could it be salmonella?
I have never been sick from lounge food in India or anywhere else, nor do I recall getting sick from airline food.

I don't suspect the lunch I had at home on the 23rd, as I do not recall ever getting sick from home cooked food. Moreover, I ate at home cooked food every day that I was in India when I was not travelling.

What do you think? Could PP food be the culprit?

Is there any point in analyzing that?

Is there any point in analyzing that?

Yes.

Could PP food be the culprit?

while it is a possibility, it is unlikely....i have had food at the premium plaza lounge more times than i can remember & have never experienced delhi belly due to that....

while it is a possibility, it is unlikely....i have had food at the premium plaza lounge more times than i can remember & have never experienced delhi belly due to that....

Home, Premium Plaza Lounge, KLM inflight food, KLM lounge food. It's got to be one of these.
The argument you gave above is not without merits, but the same argument would rule out other possibilities too.
Can one pick up a tummy bug any way other than food/drink?

Home, Premium Plaza Lounge, KLM inflight food, KLM lounge food. It's got to be one of these.
The argument you gave above is not without merits, but the same argument would rule out other possibilities too.
Can one pick up a tummy bug any way other than food/drink?

One's own hands getting contaminated, or dishes/utensils being contaminated, has been a culprit before even when selected food/drink items may not have been contaminated prior to consumer's hands/utensils making contact with the food/drink items, if even then.

The last time I got food poisoning was on a flight from BRU to the US, which struck some of my acquaintances as rather surprising given how much time I have spent in India without getting sick. Never knowingly got sick from airline food in India or food in the international departure lounges (used for premium cabin/program status customers) at DEL or BOM. [I've always tried to avoid whatever food and most drinks that they have tried to serve me in the VIP rooms in those cities and elsewhere in India.]

There is only a certain amount of pathogens a NRI body can take after being softened in the western world for a few years. Not to forget that the buggers are constantly evolving to be more evil as we get older and our immune system has nothing to do in this sanitized developed world that it starts turning onto innocent things like pollen and the like.

I you ask me (which I'm assuming you did since you posted this in a public forum) you immune system was down from the previous attack (that it lost) and a (normally minor) contamination of the food in the lounge or even at the place you stayed managed to get past your defences.

Since there is no real benefit to be gained from the incident I say sh!t and let live, the world moves on :) Loosing a few pounds improves the BMI :)

The last time I got food poisoning was on a flight from BRU to the US, which struck some of my acquaintances as rather surprising given how much time I have spent in India without getting sick.

I got badly sick in Mexico and China, I guess E.coli's various cousins don't give a s..t about the fact that you are resistant to a few thousand variations from the other side of the world :) The worst was a viral stomach flu I picked up via my niece from a child care place in Stockholm.

One's own hands getting contaminated, or dishes/utensils being contaminated, has been a culprit before even when selected food/drink items may not have been contaminated prior to consumer's hands/utensils making contact with the food/drink items, if even then.
Yes, of course. One's hand(s) is a crucial link in the chain. utensils could be contaminated too. But I rule out these two as both are not likley to be isolated cases. Whatever it was, was most likely consumed in the hours before I boarded the flight.

The last time I got food poisoning was on a flight from BRU to the US, which struck some of my acquaintances as rather surprising given how much time I have spent in India without getting sick. Never knowingly got sick from airline food in India or food in the international departure lounges (used for premium cabin/program status customers) at DEL or BOM. [I've always tried to avoid whatever food and most drinks that they have tried to serve me in the VIP rooms in those cities and elsewhere in India.]
Was it the airline worshipped by many and reputed to be the best i India? I do not recall getting sick from airline or airline lounge food either. On a trip prior to this one, I did get sick from "dhaba" food. I know what it was as it tasted funny too. Once I completed the antibiotics course, I took lot of risk in eating and still did not get sick. The last time I ate "dhaba" food was more than a week before my departure. I hhave never got sick from eating simple "daal roti" meal in a "dhaba" as long as I avoid items that could have been contaminated by water/ice. Utensils in a dhaba are the only source one cannot avoid.
There was an ever present lady, who tended the food island. She was continually wiping surfaces, edges of pots and covers, as well as handling the serving utensils. She was so diligent and focused on what she was doing that one got the impression that the reason for food being there was to enable her to exercise and hone her skills. But when I picked up a stirrer
from the jar holding them, I happened to pick one that some had used and put it back in the jar inadvertently. I brought it to the attention of one of the staff so that he could bring fresh ones in a fresh jar.
I have a hunch that I picked something from the lounge, By the time I got to the KLM lounge, I was already infected. That lady could be a source if not the food in the PP lounge.

There is only a certain amount of pathogens a NRI body can take after being softened in the western world for a few years. Not to forget that the buggers are constantly evolving to be more evil as we get older and our immune system has nothing to do in this sanitized developed world that it starts turning onto innocent things like pollen and the like.

I you ask me (which I'm assuming you did since you posted this in a public forum) you immune system was down from the previous attack (that it lost) and a (normally minor) contamination of the food in the lounge or even at the place you stayed managed to get past your defences.

Since there is no real benefit to be gained from the incident I say sh!t and let live, the world moves on :) Loosing a few pounds improves the BMI :)

My defences were down no doubt. I subjected myself to far more risk after an incident of dekhi belly last year and was under a lot of physical and mental stress, but my body did not succumb to any buggers subsequently. It's all a numbers game. If enough of those guys get in, your body can't keep the fight up. Since it appears that anything that attacks me under normal conditions at home can be handled by my weakened body, the suspicion goes to the lounge.

This incident was the least expected. I am just glad that it git me after I got home.

I got badly sick in Mexico and China, I guess E.coli's various cousins don't give a s..t about the fact that you are resistant to a few thousand variations from the other side of the world :) The worst was a viral stomach flu I picked up via my niece from a child care place in Stockholm.

Swedes seem to have this thing they call a winter puking disease. I've never had it despite coming across lots of Swedish daycare children in the family. Perhaps credit for my constitution goes to India. :D

Was it the airline worshipped by many and reputed to be the best i India?

No one reputable would call United an airline to be worshipped or the best in India. :D

United was no longer flying to/from India at the time it occurred on a United flight from BRU.

Swedes seem to have this thing they call a winter puking disease. I've never had it despite coming across lots of Swedish daycare children in the family. Perhaps credit for my constitution goes to India. :D

Well, my entire family had it first, then it hit me. While is was not a really nice thing to have it did wonders for my bmi (lost 5 KG in 5 days).

Well, my entire family had it first, then it hit me. While is was not a really nice thing to have it did wonders for my bmi (lost 5 KG in 5 days).

So you lasted longer and stronger than those with less (if any) Indian constitution. :D Hygiene thesis at work.

The last illness I had in India was air pollution related with bad coughs being the consequence. But that was some years ago unlike the UA flight from Brussels that got me sick.

In India I'm still rather extremely cautious about what and how I consume food/drink even in the airline lounges. I may not have been as careful as could be prudent on a UA flight from BRU. [On the date of travel, I hadn't eaten before that flight nor had I eaten in the lounge, yet I was sick to my stomach after a handful of hours on the UA flight and drinking and eating who knows what on board.]

No one can tell where the infection originated, without testing, because the incubation period varies. Quite often, one will remember (or regurgitate) a recent meal and decide it is the culprit, but the problem could have occurred two days before.

Also, as the OP has noted, food cleanliness is not binary. Each meal can have a few thousand e coli (which will not make you sick), or a few gazillion (which will make you sick), or somewhere in between. If in between, whether you will get sick depends on many things including physical condition, and will not be caused by any particular meal but rather to the accumulation of factors.

Since Mexico was mentioned, I want to say that in my years of traveling there, Mexico has become increasingly clean and has developed a street food culture such that gloves are used and/or the person who handles food doesn't handle money, etc. Unfortunately, India does not have such a culture. Not only on the street but also hidden behind the kitchen walls of luxury restaurants, the standards of hygiene are lax. To say nothing of the customers helping themselves from buffets...yuck.

OK - you had salad - quite probably washed in improperly filtered water - at that lounge. That would be more than enough. I'm not ruling the chicken and the rice out as contaminants either, or anything at all you ate in a roadside dhaba - but I'd normally NOT eat anything that's raw.

And on a tirth yatra / pilgrimage like you were on, the typical "religious" way to go is a vegetarian diet, and at dhabas etc, it'd also make a lot more sense because you don't know whether the dhaba is serving you chicken or, say, crow meat.

To play it doubly safe, my standard dhaba meal is tandoori rotis (hot from the tandoor, freshly made) and scrambled eggs (aka egg "bhurji"), again guaranteed to be freshly made, and cooked at high enough temperatures, and eaten hot, so that you avoid most pathogens. Oh yes, always repeat always a bottled drink like sprite, not bottled water (refilled from the nearest tap and resealed). Or a hot drink like tea.

Yes, the diet gets kind of unvarying, but at least I don't have to find out first hand how disgusting the lavatory is (if there's one available at the dhaba instead of your being handed a cut down paint can full of water and asked to drop trou behind a convenient bush).

[indian scrambled eggs, with onions etc added, aren't the creamy type you get - they are rather like a crumbled, well done, omelet]

OK - you had salad - quite probably washed in improperly filtered water - at that lounge. That would be more than enough. I'm not ruling the chicken and the rice out as contaminants either, or anything at all you ate in a roadside dhaba - but I'd normally NOT eat anything that's raw.

And on a tirth yatra / pilgrimage like you were on, the typical "religious" way to go is a vegetarian diet, and at dhabas etc, it'd also make a lot more sense because you don't know whether the dhaba is serving you chicken or, say, crow meat.

To play it doubly safe, my standard dhaba meal is tandoori rotis (hot from the tandoor, freshly made) and scrambled eggs (aka egg "bhurji"), again guaranteed to be freshly made, and cooked at high enough temperatures, and eaten hot, so that you avoid most pathogens. Oh yes, always repeat always a bottled drink like sprite, not bottled water (refilled from the nearest tap and resealed). Or a hot drink like tea.

Yes, the diet gets kind of unvarying, but at least I don't have to find out first hand how disgusting the lavatory is (if there's one available at the dhaba instead of your being handed a cut down paint can full of water and asked to drop trou behind a convenient bush).

The tirthyaatra was not really one. I had always wanted to go to Badrinath for the views. The religious aspect is cultural rather than belief.

Good idea about sticking to vegetarian.

Bottled drinks, unless I can find sugar free kind, is something I cannot have. I was very careful with water to the extent that I used it for brushing my teeth, rinsing, and everything else I needed water for. In any case, I had recovered from the "tirthyatra" bug when I caught something again after eating in the PP lounge. Even that bug has been overpowered now, but I am still recovering from the cold bug, which had gone to my lungs. It seems like I caught it in time and home it's not going to turn into pneumonia, as I am immunised against pneumonia and am on heavy antibiotics.
As to the PP lounge bug, I was probably already weakened from antibiotics when a little infection was enough to tip me over the edge.

I eat at the PP lounge almost once a week, no problem until now...