THE success of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow was put at risk by a sickness bug that hit the Athletes' Village just before the events were due to begin, NHS officials have revealed.
A report from health authorities blames the outbreak - which affected 83 victims - on a toilet that was not being cleaned and inadequate handwashing.
But the document, from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, makes it clear the entire event could have been blighted if the virus had spread beyond security staff to athletes.
Now identified as the very common but debilitating norovirus, the bug was first reported on July 15. The Games opened on July 23.
The report said: "This outbreak did not have serious public health consequences. However, due to the timing of the outbreak, there was a risk to the success of the Games if the virus spread beyond the security staff and cases were reported among athletes and team officials.
"Because of the association with the Commonwealth Games there was immense media and political interest."
The report reveals "deficiencies of cleaning" at the Athletes' Village. It said: "Some areas of the Village were not covered by any cleaning arrangements. These included the pedestrian screening area, general security areas and one block of toilets being used by security staff."
It found staff were using the "wrong type of alcohol hand gel, which would not have been effective against norovirus" rather than washing with soap and water.
It also discovered three different cleaning firms contracted at the site were using different products, including quaternary ammonium compounds, which do not kill norovirus. Staff, the report found, did not know how to report something that needed cleaned up.
Eighty of the 83 cases were security staff. No athlete was affected. Fit young people are unlikely to be seriously affected by norovirus but such illnesses can lead to a deterioration in performances.
Scotland's Lynsey Sharp took silver in the 800m on August 1 despite being up all night with a bug. Her race, however, was three days after the last reported case of norovirus in the Athletes' Village outbreak.
Environmental health officers, meanwhile, checked temporary toilet blocks and found they were substandard. The report said: "In many cases, there were no hand washing facilities with only non-gold standard hand gels being provided."
Games organisers said their catering, cleaning and waste planning regime was "fully compliant with all relevant industry standards" and insisted they quickly teamed up with health officials to overcome the bug.
A spokesman for Glasgow 2014 said: "We worked closely, positively and in collaboration with public health officials to ensure the well-being of the small number of Games workforce affected and to quickly put in place a robust range of additional measures within the Village and across Games venues to prevent further spread.
"As a result no athletes, team officials, Games family or members of Games workforce in the Athletes' Village outside the contract security team were reported as having norovirus-like symptoms and at no stage were Village or any wider Games operations adversely impacted."
The portable toilet block where the outbreak is thought to have started was closed on July 16 - as soon as NHS experts were brought in. By July 18, five days before the Games began, cleaners were scrubbing the entire village, including cooking areas, with bleach and gold-standard hand gel was issued.
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