Caution: Norovirus Prevails again

Recently, some disease control departments in China have given their urgent warnings that Norovirus outbreaks frequently. Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention expresses that Shenzhen is rated as medium risk area as the pandemic situation has entered into the active stage of spreading infectious diarrhea. 

A professor from Infectious Disease Department of Shenzhen Children’s Hospital said that Norovirus is not a newly-born virus but a very common enterovirus which can cause sporadic and worldwide pandemic gastroenteritis. From every year’s October to the next March is Norovirus’ pandemic period. To limit the spread of Norovirus to the largest scale, people should keep the following tips: washing hand before and after meals and after going to toilet. Eating completely boiled food, especially seafood as oyster. Drinking boiled water. Going to hospital or resting at home immediately in case of vomiting and diarrhea for the prevention of person-to-person infection. 

As being infected, people would have acute gastroenteritis symptoms as vomiting, diarrhea, fever. The infected adults usually suffer from diarrhea, while the infected children usually vomiting. In some cases, children would vomit dozens of times a day. In the serious cases, the symptoms include not only serious vomiting but also diarrhea and dehydration. 

Norovirus makes no difference to people of every age. People of every age may be infected, but children, the older and other people with immunodeficiency would be more easily infected and have more serious symptoms after infected. These people as being infected may suffer from the disease for a longer time and be severer. In China, 80% of children in their pre-school age have been infected with Norovirus. For children under 5 years old, over 15% of diarrhea is caused by it. 

Until now, there is no specific drug for Norovirus. The treatment for the virus mainly include symptom alleviation and supportive treatment. Norovirus is self-limited, and could not cause very serious symptoms. The recovery is usually within 2-3 days. What should be paid attention to is that few patients would suffer from dehydration after a long time of vomiting or diarrhea. In such cases, some even would get more seriously ill and have the risk of losing life. Thus, once infected children have the symptoms as vomiting, diarrhea, they should be treated with oral dehydration salts timely. And doctors also advice the infected patients who vomit seriously to drink water often and drink a little water every time, not to drink a lot of water once a time.