Category Archives: Norovirus

Norovirus strikes white Olympics

Posted on by
Reply

More than 1,200 security guards have been withdrawn from the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics because of a norovirus outbreak, organisers said on Monday. Out of the group, 41 suffered a sudden onset of vomiting and diarrhoea on Sunday. They were transferred to hospital and most were diagnosed with a norovirus infection.

“The 1,200-odd people were pulled out from their duties,” an official of the Pyeongchang Olympic Organizing Committee was quoted as saying by AFP. “They were replaced by some 900 military soldiers. Health authorities were investigating the origin of the virus,” he said.

200 hit by noro on Sea Princess cruise ship docking in Brisbane

Posted on by
1

Jorge Branco of the Brisbane Times reports gastro has hit about 200 passengers on board a cruise ship docking in Brisbane on Thursday morning.

The Sea Princess was returning from a two-week trip to New Zealand, which saw as much as seven per cent of those on board struck down with norovirus.

Efforts were made to contain the outbreak, with further cleaning expected once passengers departed the 260-metre cruise ship at Hamilton’s Portside Wharf.

A Princess Cruises spokesman said the cleaning measures would delay the ship’s departure with a fresh crew of passengers on the same route later on Thursday.

The cruise saw an “elevated number” of guests suffering norovirus-induced gastro, he said.

Noro suspected: 15 concert-goers in NZ hospitalized

Posted on by
Reply

Fifteen people are in Gisborne Hospital with severe vomiting and diarrhoea, after attending Rhythm and Vines.

Local health authorities warn the symptoms look like norovirus, and some festival-goers may need to be isolated to stop a full outbreak.

Medical officer of health Dr Bruce Duncan said they needed to stop any further contamination.

“Fifteen young people were transported [this morning] to Gisborne Hospital, where an isolation ward has been set up.

“The priority is avoiding an outbreak. Norovirus has not been confirmed, but it remains a possibility.

“With thousands of people in close proximity, it was a priority to do all we can to prevent a mass outbreak.

“At this stage, this appears to have been successful.”

Norovirus sickens 70 at Kyoto hot springs inn

Posted on by
Reply

The Japan Times reports that in an apparent case of food poisoning earlier this month, 70 people came down with symptoms after eating at a hot springs inn in Kyoto and eight were found to be infected by the norovirus, the Kyoto Prefectural Government said Saturday.

The Kyoto Prefectural Government ordered the inn to suspend business for three days starting Saturday. None of the 70, who complained of vomiting and diarrhea, is in serious condition.

Local authorities believe the virus originated from an employee.

Bringing mussels to a hospital patient isn’t a good idea

Posted on by
1

A couple of weeks ago I had a what I thought was the start of a noro nightmare: one of the 9 year-old hockey players I coach told me his stomach wasn’t feeling great. He asked to sit a shift. As I went over to check on him a couple of minutes later, he tilted his head forward and yacked through his mask on the bench. I was in the splash area, forget within the aerosolization zone.

I was lucky. No puking for me.

Norovirus is often linked to events like this, an ill food handler, or a couple of food types: shellfish or berries.

According to the Dunbarton and Vale of Leven Reporter, a couple of these sources got mixed as someone brought mussles into a hospital for a patient and the bivalves led to a bunch of other illnesses.

An outbreak of the winter vomiting bug which forced hospital bosses to ban visitors from wards was caused by someone bringing mussels in for a patient, it has emerged.

Officials have traced its spread to a visitor bringing in mussels for an inpatient at Wansbeck General Hospital in Ashington, Northumberland.

It is thought to have affected at least 180 people.

The trust said it was working hard to allow visitors in to see patients over Christmas.

Bringing in food that can cause illness in a loved one is kinda dumb. That loved one causing 180 people to get sick, is even worse.

Cruising with noro and C. perfringens

Posted on by
Reply

More than 300 passengers on a cruise ship that docked at Port Everglades, Florida, fell ill with a stomach virus.

The Naples Daily News reports that the Royal Caribbean Cruises Limited’s ship Independence Of The Seas docked Saturday in Florida reported 332 cases of gastro-intestinal illness among the 5,547 guests.

It was the second time in less than a month that illness hit passengers on one of the cruise line’s vessels.

The 5-night cruise was interrupted for those passengers, who had symptoms including vomiting and diarrhea. One passenger, Victoria Nolan, described people throwing up in elevators.

Tracy Flores, a passenger, said her teen son, who is diabetic contracted the illness while on board.

“We brought him Wednesday night we wheeled him in, they already had a full waiting room and as we were sitting there, more wheelchairs were coming in, more wheelchairs were coming,” Flores told WPLG-TV. “Everybody was puking, everywhere they were leaving to go use the bathroom with diarrhea and it was just frightening.”

This follows an outbreak involving 100s of passengers aboard Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas cruise ship that were stricken with Norovirus on a recent cruise from Singapore to Hobart, Tasmania in Australia. The Ovation of the Seas has a capacity of 5,000 passengers and 1500 in crew members – making it the world’s fourth largest cruise ship and the largest cruise ship to ever sail in Australian waters.

And in something completely different – except for the cruise ship commonality — Outbreak News Today reports that Clostridium perfringens was the cause of an outbreak that sickened over 200 in Nov. 2017 aboard the Princess Cruises vessel Crown Princess.

Norovirus sickens 60 students at NC State; kindergarten in China

Posted on by
Reply

In an update to the North Carolina State University norovirus outbreak, about 60 students are experiencing symptoms.

“For me it was for one night and that night it was like the apocalypse, honestly. It was, ugh, really bad,” said Astri Sundstroem, a graduate student who battled the virus this week.

Most of the affected students, including Sundstroem and senior Linda Astrom, live in the Alexander residence hall.

“It was really bad. It was very intense for like just a few hours. Everything broke out. It was crazy. Everyone was really sick,” Astrom said.

To demonstrate how infectious norovirus can be, Zhang et al. report in the current International Journal of Infectious Diseases – recommended bath time reading – that noroviruses are a common cause of acute gastroenteritis outbreaks in institutions including schools and kindergartens around the world.

An outbreak caused by GII.P16-GII.2 norovirus in a kindergarten in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China is reported here. An epidemiological investigation was conducted, and pathogen detection was performed. The descriptive analysis indicated that this outbreak in middle class 1 had a point source. Twenty cases of acute gastroenteritis occurred in this class within a period of 8.5 h; the attack rate was 52.6% (20/38). Airborne transmission via the air conditioning unit in a confined restroom could have played a critical role in this outbreak. Sequence analysis of GII-positive samples confirmed that the norovirus GII.P16-GII.2 variant was the etiological agent of this outbreak.

An acute gastroenteritis outbreak caused by GII.P16-GII.2 norovirus associated with airborne transmission via the air conditioning unit in a kindergarten in Lianyungang, China

International Journal of Infectious Diseases, December 2017, vol 65, pages 81-84,Ting-lu Zhang, Jing Lu, Liang Ying, Xiao-lu Zhu, Lian-hao Zhao, Meng-ying Zhou, Jia-long Wang, Guo-cai Chen, Lei Xu, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2017.10.003

http://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(17)30259-X/fulltext

50+sick: Norovirus in Sweden water

Posted on by
Reply

(Something may be lost in translation)

Thanks to our Swedish correspondent who forwarded the stories about a norovirus outbreak in Saxdalen linked to drinking water.

Anders Lindblom, Disease Prevention Officer in Dalarna, said, “Probably the cause of the stomach disorder in the Saxdalen winter calf virus (calicivirus). The virus that causes winter rheumatoid arthritis is highly contagious and spreads apart from water and food, even from person to person.”

It’s norovirus. But different countries call it different things.

Our correspondent adds, “In Saxdalen in middle Sweden, the drinking water is contaminated with norovirus. The contamination source is probably poorly maintained sewage pipe system. So far is at least 50 people (10% of the population) infected.”

Media reports note, “The stool sample we received indicates that it is calicivirus and unfortunately it will take some time to get the water approved,” says Göran Eriksson, environmental manager in Ludvika municipality.

“He tells us that the cause of the pollution is probably that a drainage pipe in very bad condition polluted the soil at a place where a drinking water pipeline had previously broken.

“Ludvika municipality still recommends people living in Saxdalen to boil the water you plan to drink and cook with.”

NC State University hosts a norovirus…outbreak

Posted on by
Reply

The following message popped into my email inbox earlier today:

Since Tuesday, Dec. 5, several students have reported experiencing gastrointestinal illness. Late yesterday, the Wake County Human Services Department confirmed the cause as norovirus.

Norovirus is a very contagious virus that causes stomach pain, nausea and diarrhea. More information about norovirus, and tips to prevent it from spreading, are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

At present, approximately 60 students have exhibited norovirus-like symptoms. Most of the affected students live in Alexander Hall, however, additional cases of ill students have been received from a handful of other on- and off-campus housing locations.

With norovirus and other gastrointestinal illnesses, the most effective way to stop the spread is to practice good handwashing and personal hygiene.

If you are exhibiting symptoms and feel ill, you should thoroughly wash your hands after any bathroom visit. If you are feeling ill, you should not prepare food for or serve food to others. It is also important to get adequate rest and good oral hydration, both when ill and when trying not to become ill.

The university is taking every precaution to contain the spread of the illness, and to assist ill students, including the following actions:

• Student Health is actively working with University Housing to contact all identified sick students who live on campus to check on their health and needs.
• Wellness kits containing liquids and easy-to-digest foods have been provided to affected students.
• Students exhibiting gastrointestinal issues have been instructed to remain in their residences throughout their illness in an effort to not spread the virus to others.
• University Housekeeping staff have increased cleaning operations in affected areas as a precaution, including cleaning restrooms, hand railings, door knobs, etc., and will continue to do so daily until the illness passes.
• University Housekeeping will provide approved cleaning supplies to affected students for their university-owned personal living spaces.
• Faculty of the students who are ill have been notified.

Any students who are presenting symptoms should remain in their rooms, and on-campus students should contact their RA. Students experiencing persistent, severe vomiting or diarrhea should go to the Student Health Center, personal health care provider, or emergency healthcare facility. Students who are not sick should go about their normal routines.

If students, faculty or staff have questions, please contact the Wolfpack Response Line at 919.512.3272.

Here are some infosheets for just this occasion.

Norovirus outbreak linked to ill food handlers
Screen Shot 2015-02-03 at 11.22.56 PMPuking cheerleader leads to outbreak
Screen Shot 2015-02-03 at 11.22.31 PM
Norovirus is a problem for campuses and cafeterias
Screen Shot 2015-02-03 at 11.22.00 PM

Probably Norovirus: At least 35 sickened at Michigan restaurant

Posted on by
Reply

Rachel Greco of the Lansing State Journal reports at least 35 people have reported getting sick after eating at downtown Grand Ledge restaurant The Log Jam in the last two weeks, according to public health officials.

The West Jefferson Street restaurant closed Monday, six days after the first eight illness complaints were reported to the health department on Nov. 22, said Abigail Lynch, a spokesperson for the Barry-Eaton County Health Department.

Those Log Jam customers reported eating there Nov. 19, she said.

Lynch said callers reported norovirus symptoms, which include diarrhea, nausea, stomach cramps and vomiting. She said health department staff suspect a norovirus outbreak, but are awaiting test results to confirm it.

The Nov. 22 reports did not prompt the restaurant to close or for the health department to issue a public statement about the suspected outbreak, Lynch said, because the health department didn’t believe there was “an ongoing threat to public health.”

Lynch said department staff visited the restaurant Nov. 22, and staff there cleaned the interior of the eatery with bleach, threw out any prepared food and emphasized hand washing practices with employees.

Since Nov. 22 at least 27 additional reports of illness have been made by Log Jam customers to the health department, Lynch said. Most of those people reported eating at the restaurant Nov. 25 and reports were still coming in, she said. 

“Based on that, when we left on (Nov. 22) we felt we had put proper interventions in place to prevent further illness,” Lynch said. “This just happened to be one of those instances where it wasn’t.”

Lynch said the restaurant was closed Nov. 27 for another cleaning that was supervised by health department staff, and re-opened the next day. She said all of the restaurant’s prepared foods were thrown out and employees were informed again about the importance of hand washing.

A person who answered the phone at The Log Jam Wednesday morning declined to comment on the suspected outbreak and referred all questions to the health department. 

A Nov. 27 post on The Log Jam’s Facebook page reads, “It seems that there has been an outbreak of a viral gastroenteritis in the community. We have consulted with the health department and they confirmed that this very contagious virus has made some people very ill in our town…Since our water heater went up in flames, and we had to close for repairs, we took full advantage of our down time to disinfect every square inch of our facility.”