Norovirus Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Norovirus Blog

Norovirus is on the upswing in the United States, a new report by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) suggests.

No national surveillance system exists for Norovirus except where food-borne transmission is suspected. In last half of 2006, state public health departments began reporting more outbreaks involving acute gastroenteritis (AGE). Many of these involved residents of long-term care facilities.

Two years ago, in the (Aug. 24, 2007) Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), CDC confirmed that “ a national increase has occurred in the frequency of AGE outbreaks caused by norovirus (including fatal cases in long-term--care facilities). Two new co-circulating GII.4 norovirus strains emerged nationwide in 2006 and likely accounted for this increase in activity.”

In today’s MMWR, CDC takes a more robust look at food-borne outbreaks in 2006 and finds Norovirus is “the most common cause.”  In an analysis titled: “Surveillance for Foodborne Disease Outbreaks --- United States, 2006,” CDC breaks down the outbreaks for 2006 on which it has data.

“A total of 1,270 Food-Borne Disease Outbreaks (FBDOs) were reported, resulting in 27,634 (illness) cases and 11 deaths.

“Among the 624 FBDOs with a confirmed etiology, norovirus was the most common cause, accounting for 54 percent of outbreaks and 11,879 cases…” CDC reports.

In 621 outbreaks involving 18,111 cases, there was a single confirmed etiologic agent responsible. In 55 percent of those outbreaks (343) involving 66 percent of the cases (11,981), the cause was a virus. (Bacteria, parasites, and chemical agents caused the remainder.)

Calicivirus caused 337 (98 percent) of the confirmed FBDOs attributed to viruses; and all calicivirus outbreaks reported in 2006 were attributed to norovirus.

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It is the cool season down under. New Zealand is experiencing temperatures in the 50's this time of year.

Maybe that is the reason for a soaring number of norovirus cases in Timaru, the fishing and cargo port on the South island. And, the outbreak is centered on Timaru Hospital where in the last 24 hours 19 patients and six staff members were suffering from norovirus symptoms.

The norovirus outbreak is so serious, the hospital serving a community of over 42,000 has decided to postpone elective surgeries. It put both its medical and surgical wards on lockdown.

Eleven surgeries have been postponed so far, according to clinical services general manager Christine Nolan, but none was cancelled. 

"Surgery lists are being drawn up to include more cases of day surgery which allow people to recover at home instead of in-patient surgery requiring a lengthy recovery in hospital," Nolan told the Tamaru Herald.

The New Zealand newspaper has more here.

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Twenty-three people who arrived on the Rocky Mountaineer train from Calgary to Vancouver were quarantined in their rooms at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler yesterday with Norovirus symptoms.

Public health officials confirmed the guests of the pricy hotel were being kept in their rooms. The sick were members of a 100-member tour group from the Brisbane area in Australia.

Dr. Paul Martiquet, public health officer with Vancouver Coastal Health, said on Monday that some members of another, similar tour group from the same area also came down with the virus last week.

Martiquet confirmed that the Chateau guests had Norwalk or Norovirus virus. Healthy members of the Australian tour group were allowed to move on to the Empress Hotel in Victoria.

For more, go here.

The virus usually takes about 24 hours to run its course, and as with many viruses, frequent handwashing is key to preventing contracting it from others, Martiquet said.

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 A norovirus outbreak at the Columbus, GA-based Gardens at Calvary means people will have to limit their visits to the long-term care facility.

Several residents at the Gardens are ill with norovirus. The voluntary limit on the number of visitors entering the home took effect last week as control measures were implemented.

The Gardens at Calvary is located on Moon Road in Columbus.  The local health department issued the following information to the public:

Noroviruses are found in the stool or vomit of infected people. People can become infected with the virus in several ways, including:

• eating food or drinking liquids that are contaminated with norovirus;
• touching surfaces or objects contaminated with norovirus, and then placing their hand in their mouth;
• having direct contact with another person who is infected and showing symptoms (for example, when caring for someone with illness, or sharing foods or eating utensils with someone who is ill).

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Up in the most northwest corner of the United States, officials at the Eagle Creek Elementary School in Arlington, WA are happy to be sending in the cleaning crews to scrub things down.

That's because the 100 students and staff who got sick at the school have Norovirus, not the Swine Flu. It's just another reminder that the Norovirus season is not over yet.

The Snohomish County Health District says about 20 percent of the elementary school's student body plus some staff members are ill.  They are suffering all the Norovirus symptoms including  nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps. Symptoms typically last one to two days

The Everett Herald has a story here.

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This past weekend in Holland, MI, "town and gown" activities included Hope College's graduation and class reunions; and the annual Tulip Festival.   Out of concern for Swine Flu, there was no kissing at graduation.   Handshakes, however, were encouraged.

And while there were already a couple of confirmed cases of Swine Flu in Michigan, and certain to be more as this week goes forward, Hope College enjoyed a worry-free celebration weekend.  So much different  than last November when a norovirus outbreak closed down the Holland campus and made more than 500 people sick.  We first reported on the Hope College outbreak here.

The Grand Rapids Press reported that: "Visitors were either unaware or not worried about 10 probable cases of swine flu among Hope students, announced late Friday afternoon by the Ottawa County Health Department."

"Everybody is more aware after that (norovirus) experience, says Jonathan Hagood, 34, who teaches Latin American history at Hope. Since that outbreak, hand-washing and hand-sanitation stations were added around the campus.

"We are seeing a more proactive response because as a campus we had a trial run," he said.

For more about the big weekend in Holland, check this out.

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We are certain we could greatly up the number of hits on this blog if we re-named it "Swine Flu Rumors," but that would be wrong.

However, we have seen and for a time will continue to see national reporters asking federal health officials about rumors of Swine Flu that are in fact nothing more than our old friend, the Norovirus.

Take UOP in Des Plaines, IL for example. Its a manufacturing technology company and 46 of its workers were suddenly out with flu-like symptoms.

A Cook County Department of Public Health investigation found all were down with Norovirus and it was traced to an ill food worker.

So it was food-borne illness, and rumors of Swine Flu were proved to be unfounded.

Still we have brought it up, here are the latest Swine Flu numbers for the United States along with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) statement from this morning:

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Going into last weekend, California's Yolo County Health Department went public with the news that the city of Davis is experiencing an outbreak of norovirus with 70 already ill. We cannot say whether Yolo County got the word out early or late Friday, but we suspect late because it really did not show up in the news until this morning. According to Yolo County:

Health officials are providing targeted community education to control the outbreak. “Norovirus can be contained fairly quickly when control measures are started and maintained consistently,” states Bruce Sarazin, Director of the Yolo County Health Department Environmental Health Division. The Health Department has provided Norovirus control guidelines to all affected institutions, businesses, and individuals and will closely monitor the situation.

Maybe the "targeted community education" would have been more effective if Yolo County had not wasted the weekend in getting the word out.    Go here for the story in today's Woodland Daily Democrat.   And, remember to be careful out there.   The norovirus season is not over yet.

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 Shaw Hall, a central cafeteria and dorm on the Michigan State University campus, is the latest victim of a norovirus outbreak. About 30 MSU students got the vomit disease.

The Shaw Hall cafeteria is closed until at least Saturday morning, said university spokesperson Jason Cody.  According to the Detroit Free Press:

Ingham County Health Department Medical Director Dean Sienko said the department had a hunch it was norovirus, and started their control measures ahead of the lab results, which he said gives them the advantage over the virus.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Sienko said. “We know at least what our enemy is.” A few more students have appeared at Sparrow Hospital today, he said, but nothing like the mass of students that flooded the emergency room Wednesday, starting at 1:30 a.m.

Sienko said this outbreak is not food-related. Norovirus is spread easily by contact with infected individuals, sharing their food or drink, or contacting surfaces contaminated by the virus.

Cody said disinfection procedures are also in place at dorms besides Shaw Hall where sick students lived.

For more from the Free Press, go here.

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