Norovirus outbreaks are still increasing nationwide. The contagious disease - also known as the stomach bug, stomach "flu" or winter vomiting disease - is bringing suffering to millions of families and even obliging some schools to close. Experts say it's is one of the most contagious virus's oblivion, hitting hospitals, cruise ships and schools foremost. Though, study shows norovirus is not related to influenza. It's a notoriously contagious and difficult gastrointestinal virus problem.
If Someone Is Sick With Norovirus, You Must Know The Following;
Norovirus Acts Quickly - Symptoms can be noticed within 12 to 48 hours upon exposure. You will feel extremely sick with diarrhea and vomiting, couple of times a day.
Norovirus Makes You Vomit Violently - Norovirus is commonly known as stomach flu or winter vomiting disease. Both infections cause stomach cramps, nasty diarrhea, and fever.
High Numbers Point To Norovirus - When norovirus hits, it often causes outbreaks - for example, 700 people sickened on the Royal Caribbean ship Explorer of the Seas in January 2014 or 142 people infected on a Royal Norwegian cruise ship. E. coli outbreaks often play out over a longer period and the numbers reported are usually in huge numbers.
Each year, norovirus makes 70,000 people sick enough to be hospitalized. As many as 800 people would die, and the most affected are elderly patients who become dehydrated. It's common cause of foodborne-disease outbreaks, CDC says.
Researchers who put together a "vomiting machine" verified one reason. The vomiting that marks norovirus sends small particles of that vomit into the air, carrying pieces of virus. "We think that there's a at least a million particles released in every vomiting victims or maybe more," said Lee-Ann Jaykus, the N.C. State food science professor who leads the team.
"Imagine you have a food manager who uses the bathroom and they haven't washed their hands meticulously." People can be infected with as few as 20 to 1,300 microscopic viral elements, so their study shows that vomiting could indeed spread the contagious virus through the air. And the findings help describe how a batch of teenaged soccer players got sick from eating packed cookies in Washington state in 2010.
Norovirus Is Hard To Wash Away
There was an event, when one of the girls had thrown up in the hotel bathroom, spreading an aerosol of norovirus that landed all over the place, including on a reusable grocery bag hanging in the room. The bag, which later was used to carry the cookies, tested positive origin of the virus. The results were shocking, it has been contaminated two weeks later.
Norovirus is hard to wash away with simple water and soap. Studies show a quick application of hand sanitizer won't be enough to get rid of it, and most of us don't wash their hands properly, either - it takes about 30 seconds of dynamic rubbing using hot water and soap to wash away the tiny bits of virus, and that means getting into our nails, too.
