In 2011 Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) staff investigated an outbreak of suspected norovirus among patrons of a restaurant in Burnsville, Minnesota. MDH received three complaints from members of two different dining parties. The parties were held at the restaurant on February 25 and 26.

A list of party attendees of one of the parties was obtained from the party organizer. Attempts to contact the organizer of the second party were unsuccessful. MDH epidemiologists interviewed party attendees about food/beverage consumption and illness history. Nine party goers met the case definition. No one was hospitalized and no one died. No patrons agreed to stool testing. Due to a limited menu and a lack of non-ill controls, a meaningful statistical analysis could not be performed.

The restaurant manager told MDH sanitarians that a number of employees had been sick with vomiting and/or diarrhea with onsets of February 27 and 28. The source of contamination was not identified but most likely was one or more ill or recently ill food workers. The etiologic agent was not confirmed; however, the symptoms and incubation periods were characteristic of norovirus.