Norovirus Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Norovirus Blog

24/01/2006

A debilitating illness which has surfaced in Christchurch has also been found in the Wellington region.

Norovirus is an extremely virulent illness that causes diarrhoea and vomiting.

Regional Medical Officer of Health Margot McLean says there have been two outbreaks this month in rest homes in Hutt Valley. She is advising anyone who suspects they have the virus to stay away from others.

Thirty-six people have fallen ill with the virus in Christchurch with six cases linked to a restaurant.

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By: Paul Garrod
01/23/2006

PAW PAW - An apparent virus outbreak at Trinity Lutheran School that began last Friday afternoon, caused approximately 75 to 80 students and seven staff members to become ill over the weekend.

The virus-outbreak forced the school to close it doors for two days this week, Monday and Tuesday, while a professional cleaning crew, staff, school board members and parents cleaned and disinfected the inside of the building, including carpets and lockers.

"I've never in 20 years experienced anything like this," said Deanna Hindenach, principal of the school's 160 students.

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23 January 2006
By JANINE BENNETTS

Dozens of people have fallen violently ill after dining at Christchurch eateries.

Community and Public Health yesterday confirmed it was dealing with an outbreak of the gut-wrenching norovirus ñ a contagious stomach bug ñ which has forced some restaurants and cafes to close temporarily.

Canterbury medical officer of health Dr Mel Brieseman said Community and Public Health was aware of cases from at least nine cafes, takeaway bars and restaurants in the past 10 days.

Brieseman said the outbreak involved "significant numbers of people", but it was hard to know exactly how many people had been infected.

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January 21, 2006
State confirms the type of bug that sickened 245 at Hamilton Southeastern Junior High
By Lisa Renze-Rhodes
lisa.renze.rhodes@indystar.com
January 21, 2006

State health officials have confirmed a norovirus caused more than 200 students and staff members at Hamilton Southeastern Junior High School to become sick last week.

A letter sent home to parents Friday explained the Indiana State Department of Health's findings, said Richard Hogue, assistant superintendent. Officials, however, don't know the source of the virus.

Hogue said that by Friday, all schools in the district were reporting normal student attendance levels. Routine cleaning schedules will resume, ending a temporary regimen that involved using a 10 percent bleach solution on desks and other surfaces on the campus.

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Suit claims man died after virus outbreak
By Vanessa Blum
Staff Writer
January 21 2006

The family of a 21-year-old Michigan man who died two days after returning from a weeklong Caribbean cruise has brought a class-action lawsuit against Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines.

The suit, filed Wednesday in Miami federal court, seeks to recover $20 million on behalf of passengers who became ill on a January 2005 voyage of the Carnival Miracle.

According to the suit, several passengers developed flu-like symptoms after consuming food or water aboard the ship that was contaminated with the norovirus -- a type of virus that causes nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

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January 21, 2006
WWBT-TV
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10949248

The Chesterfield Health Department says initial lab results are detailing what
type of infection caused more than two dozen people at Lucy Corr Village to
become sick. Results show that the cluster of people suffering from diarrhea
and vomiting contracted Noro-Virus, which is highly contagious and difficult to
control.

Four more people at the long-term adult home are now displaying symptoms.
Initially, about 24 people were showing signs of Noro-Virus infection. That
number includes both residents and staff members.

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By Lisa Renze-Rhodes
lisa.renze.rhodes@indystar.com
January 19, 2006

FISHERS, Ind. -- The scent of bleach was a clear reminder Wednesday that life at Hamilton Southeastern Junior High remains on the mend.
Principal Shari Switzer welcomed the strong odor.

"It means clean," she said. "That's why we like the smell of it."

More than 95 percent of the student body reported to class Wednesday, the first day of school since Friday's suspected norovirus outbreak sickened as many as 230 students and 15 staff members.

Seventh-grader Elizabeth Hill spent part of her long weekend laid up because of the virus.

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January 17, 2006
230 students, 15 staffers call in sick Friday.
Indianapolis Star

FISHERS -- When seventh-grader Elizabeth Hill walked into her social-studies class Friday morning, the room was half empty and her teacher's instructions were to the point: If she felt ill, grab a bucket.

There was little else she could do. The line at the nurse's office was an hour long, said the 13-year-old Hamilton Southeastern Junior High student, one of as many as 230 students sickened last week by a suspected norovirus that swept through school.

Health officials are uncertain where the virus, which causes stomach flu-like symptoms that last for one to two days, might have originated.

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January 15, 2006
IndyStar.com
Lisa Renze-Rhodes, Raygan Swan and Tammy Webber

When seventh-grader Elizabeth Hill walked into her social studies class Friday morning, the room was half empty and her teacher's instructions were to the point: If she felt ill, grab a bucket.

There was little else she could do. The line at the nurse's office was an hour long, said the 13-year-old Hamilton Southeastern Junior High student, one of as many as 230 students sickened this week by a suspected norovirus that swept through school.

Health officials are uncertain where the virus, which causes stomach flu-like symptoms that last for one to two days, might have originated.

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January 14, 2006
The Indianapolis Star Lisa Renze-Rhodes

As many as 230 Hamilton Southeastern Junior High students stayed home Friday after a suspected outbreak of a fast-spreading norovirus that causes stomach-flu-like symptoms swept through campus.

District officials called in the county health department and sent a message home to parents after about 23 percent of the student population failed to turn up in the classroom.

The illness struck staff, too, with about a fifth of them -- 15 teachers
-- out sick Friday.

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January 12, 2006
Mission Record (BC)
Jason Roessle

A quarantine at Pleasant View Care Home may be lifted by the weekend, following several residents and staff members falling ill with the Norwalk-like virus.

Care home administrator Judith Ray says staff believe the virus was brought in
by visitors.

ìWe first noticed it Dec. 29,î she related.

Staff members were getting sick, but then a few residents fell ill. Given the
symptoms were vomiting and diarrhea, it took about three days for enough people to get sick before they suspected Norwalk-like virus. It took a further four days for the Centre for Disease Control to confirm it was that particular
virus, she added.

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January 7, 2006
Chillicothe Gazette (Ohio)
Jessica Burchard
http://www.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060107/NEWS01/601070301/1002

An outbreak of a stomach virus among school students has led to increased absences in some Ross County schools and the Friday closure of Southern Hills Academy.

The virus has shown itself in several schools during the last week in both students and teachers, hitting Southern Hills' operations particularly hard because of the school's size. It's passed through contact with infected spaces such as door handles, pens, cups and other items.

Maryjo Flamm-Miller, head of school for Southern Hills Academy, said the school had an unusually high number of students and staff call in sick Thursday.
"We had 34 percent of our students and five of our teachers absent with the virus," she said.

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January 6, 2006
ABC 7 News
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0106/291765.html

Fairfax, Va. - The hype over bird flu might have you worried, but health officials say there's a more pressing concern in Northern Virginia.

That state's health department says they're seeing cases of norovirus, also known as "winter vomiting disease." Other symptoms include diarrhea, nausea, low-grade fever and chills.

Health officials say norovirus is common this time of year, and it's very contagious. So they're urging everyone to take some simple precautions, like washing your hands frequently and making sure sick people don't prepare food for others.

They also warn that dehydration is a big risk among the elderly and the very young.

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Contagious Winter Disease On The Rise

Health officials in Northern Virginia are warning of a major health threat. The state's health department has been reporting several cases of norovirus, also known as the "winter vomiting disease."

Some of the symptoms of the disease include diarrhea, nausea, low-grade fever and chills.

Health officials say norovirus is common this time of year and it's very contagious.

They are urging everyone to take simple precautions, like washing hands frequently and not allowing sick people prepare food for others.

Health officials also warn that dehydration is a big risk among senior citizens and the very young.

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The Associated Press
January 05, 2006

Part of the adult psychiatric ward at the Medical University of South Carolina was closed when 17 patients and staff members became ill with a flu-like illness.

Officials say those affected were exposed to a strain of norovirus, a common virus spread by exposure to fecal matter in food or drink or by human contact.

There have been similar outbreaks in recent years in hotels, casinos and on cruise ships.

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5 January 2006

DOCTORS are baffled by a rise in patients struck by the most common form of winter vomiting bug.

Cases of norovirus soared by 65 per cent last year in Scotland. There were 1491 confirmed cases of the bug - which causes sickness and flu-like symptoms -compared with 906 in 2004.

Scottish hospitals were hit by more than 60 outbreaks, with care homes, schools, oilrigs and ships also affected.

Doctors believe the number of confirmed cases is merely the tip of the iceberg and hundreds of thousands of people may have had it.

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January 4, 2006
Cowichan Valley Citizen
Andrea Rondeau

An outbreak of a Norwalk-like virus at Cowichan District Hospital that began
early in December has now been declared officially over by the Vancouver Island Health Authority.

The outbreak, which began about Dec. 12, hit eight patients and 13 staff at the
hospital before being declared over Dec. 30.

On Dec. 22 the hospital announced it was closing Floor Two South to in-patients
and transfers. Health officials asked people not visit the hospital except for
compassionate reasons, and particularly that they not bring children.
This was the second such outbreak in 2005.

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January 5, 2006
Islandpacket.com

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Part of the adult psychiatric ward at the Medical University of South Carolina was closed when 17 patients and staff members became ill with a flu-like illness.

Officials say those affected were exposed to a strain of norovirus, a common virus spread by exposure to fecal matter in food or drink or by human contact.

There have been similar outbreaks in recent years in hotels, casinos and on cruise ships.

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HELEN PUTTICK, Health Correspondent
January 04 2006

Hundreds of thousands of people have been struck down by a virulent stomach infection which has reached record levels, sweeping through hotels, hospitals, care homes and even passenger ships.

Health officials in Scotland have recorded a 65% increase in cases of the highly-infectious norovirus, the so-called winter vomiting virus, during the past 12 months.

The medical profession has been unable to explain the surge in sickness in the latest figures, although a new strain of the bug could be to blame.

The virus can strike hospital wards and force managers to turn away new patients and cancel operations until it stops spreading.

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JANUARY 3, 2006

Three wards have been shut down at West Suffolk Hospital after a highly-contagious virus broke out among patients.

The first case of Norovirus, commonly known as the winter vomiting virus, struck on Christmas Eve on one ward at the Bury St Edmunds hospital.

By yesterday, three wards had been shut down by the virus, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea.

The affected wards have been closed to new patients and patient movement has also been restricted, unless in cases of emergency.

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Polk County
January 2, 2006

Several outbreaks of norovirus, a common cause of gastrointestinal illness, have been confirmed in Polk County in the past week, the Polk County Health Department said.

Norovirus is highly contagious through person-to-person contact; in food and beverages; on environmental surfaces and objects contaminated with human feces, county health officials said.

The disease transmits most easily where people congregate in groups, such as child-care facilities, group homes and long-term-care facilities.

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