Norovirus Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Norovirus Blog

Residents of a California senior housing complex canceled group meals and activities to combat a suspected outbreak of norovirus, health officials said.

More than 20 of the 160 residents at Oakmont Gardens in Santa Rosa, CA reported flu-like symptoms, primarily nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, according to David Peironnet, executive director of the independent and assisted living senior apartment complex.

Ill residents are "staying to themselves," Peironnet said, while others are free to move about the facility, which is not quarantined.

Highly contagious norovirus, often associated with cruise ships, hospitals and other semi-closed communities, has sickened about 2,000 people in long-term care and skilled nursing facilities in California's Sonoma County since 2006.

It is believed to have been a contributing factor in the deaths of seven people in the last three years.

More on the outbreak can be found in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
 

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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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