Medical professionals caught up in gastro outbreak 48 hours before ill-fated wedding

New details have emerged on the gastro outbreak in Albert Park after 70 medical professionals became severely unwell days before a wedding at The Park Melbourne.

At least 70 medical staff who attended The Park Melbourne have come down with gastroenteritis symptoms.

A second major gastro outbreak at The Park Melbourne is being probed after 70 people fell violently ill following a conference dinner – two days before the venue hosted a wedding which left dozens of guests with suspected food poisoning.

Doctors, nurses, researchers, rehabilitation and emergency services staff were among 280 guests staying at Pullman Melbourne Albert Park last week for an annual Australian and New Zealand Burn Association (ANZBA) conference.

The four-day event – which was scheduled to finish on Friday – was forced to go virtual on its last day after 70 guests were believed to have come down with gastroenteritis symptoms, such as diarrhoea and vomiting.

The Department of Health is investigating after 70 guests who attended a conference dinner at The Park Melbourne fell ill days before a wedding, held at the same venue.

Meanwhile, some staff were so ill they sought medical treatment from nearby hospitals, prompting organisers to cancel the final function of the conference.

While it’s not known for certain how the conference guests got sick, The Herald Sun can reveal they were dining at The Park Melbourne on Wednesday night – the same venue at the centre of a suspected gastro outbreak among wedding guests just two days later.

At least 30 wedding guests got sick following dinner at the venue, bringing the total number of people affected by the outbreaks to 100 guests over the two separate events.

A source told the Herald Sun conference guests were served gnocchi or lamb shoulder for entree, chicken or salmon for main course and a chocolate tart or rice pudding for dessert on Wednesday evening.

While most of the guests felt fine that night, several medical professionals started to feel violently ill the following afternoon and evening while staying at Pullman Melbourne Albert Park.

It’s understood some sick guests had afternoon tea while at the hotel on Thursday morning, thus it’s not yet known whether the origin of the illness was The Park Melbourne, Pullman Melbourne Albert Park or another venue altogether.

The guests of the ANZBA conference were also staying at Pullman Melbourne Albert Park.

The conference dinner guests were served chicken and salmon for their main meal at The Park Melbourne.

Both venues told the Herald Sun they are liaising with the Department of Health which is investigating both suspected gastro outbreaks at the wedding and the conference.

“The health and wellbeing of our guests is our greatest priority,” an Accor spokesman said in response to a query about conference guests staying at Pullman Melbourne Albert Park.

“The source of the issue is unknown and our understanding is that the Department of Health is working with a number of venues to identify this.

“We follow industry standards to ensure all appropriate measures are in place.”

Meanwhile, Bahaa Harb, venue manager for The Park Melbourne and Rivers Edge confirmed the venue is investigating both outbreaks.

“In conjunction with the City of Port Phillip (and) health department we are continuing to investigate an outbreak of illness occurring after events at the Park on Wednesday 13 September and Saturday 16 September,” Mr Harb said.

“On Friday 15 September, we received a routine Health and Safety site inspection from the City of Port Phillip, finding no issues with the Health and Safety practices.”

He confirmed a precautionary deep clean was conducted and the venue had received approval from the council to keep trading.

“We will continue to work closely with the City of Port Phillip to determine the cause of this outbreak and will keep our customers and impacted parties notified of the investigation’s findings,” Mr Harb said.

At least 30 wedding guests reported feeling ill after attending The Park Melbourne on Saturday night.

The Department of Health confirmed it was working with Port Phillip Council and the South East Public Health Unit to investigate the course of both outbreaks, with the cause of the illness still not yet known.

The outbreak among medical staff occurred two days before dozens of wedding guests who attended a reception at The Park Melbourne on Saturday night started to come down with gastro-like symptoms.

At least 30 loved ones – including a one-year-old toddler and several elderly guests – of the bride and groom became unwell in the days following the reception, with symptoms including a high fever, nausea, vomiting and in the rare case hallucinations.

The Department of Health confirmed on Monday there was a gastroenteritis outbreak that occurred at the venue on Saturday and said it was working with the Port Phillip Council to investigate the source of the outbreak.

Links to the multistate listeria outbreak were also ruled out, despite five cases of the illness being reported last month.

The Herald Sun has contacted ANZBA for comment regarding the outbreak at the conference.

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