Norovirus

Norovirus Is Coming, And This Silly Popular Advice Won’t Protect You

... Avoid the Stomach Flu.” The trick, according to the article, is grape juice: Drink it when norovirus is making the rounds, and you might not spew liquid from both ends of your body ever again. Oh, wouldn’t that be nice. I would drink eight gallons of grape juice a day if I believed it would prevent stomach bugs. (Although I’d have to weigh it against the type 2 diabetes I’d inevitably develop in its stead.) But I have some bad news. There’s no evidence even to suggest that drinking grape juice prevents norovirus. The rationale used by this article—and many others like it—is really quite ridiculous. According to the article, “there is something in grape juice that changes the p H in your stomach and prevents norovirus from multiplying.” So many things are wrong with this sentence, it’s hard to know where to start. For one thing, the p H of the stomach naturally fluctuates a lot: It can be as low as 1 (super acidic) and as high as 5 (more neutral) depending on what it’s doing. There’s no reason to think that an unknown “something” in grape juice affects the p H of the stomach in ways that are more drastic ...

Here's 1 Easy Way To Prevent Catching It

... hands with a clean or disposable towel. If you have the option, turn off the faucet using a towel or your elbow, as well. What else do you need to know about norovirus. 1. How it spreads. According the the CDC, people with norovirus illness are contagious from the moment they begin feeling sick and for the first few days after they recover. You can catch it by. - Eating food or drinking liquids that are contaminated with norovirus. - Touching surfaces or objects with norovirus on them and then putting your hand or fingers in your mouth. - Having direct contact with a person who is infected with norovirus, for example, when caring for someone with norovirus or sharing foods or eating utensils with them. 2. Washing hands isn't the only precaution you can take. When it comes to preparing your meals, always wash your fruits and veggies thoroughly and keep sick kids out of the kitchen while you're preparing food, ...

Norovirus Reaching A Dangerous Level

... to the norovirus, stays in the body for the same length of time and is common in babies even though they're vaccinated. "It's very serious in babies. That protects them pretty well the first year or two of life when it wears off and it gets around as well," said Jones. Thankfully Jones said rotavirus isn't as contagious as norovirus, something he said is incredibly infectious. "It's a virus that lives on surfaces for several hours so you could pick it up in the bathroom after someone's been in there. Worst yet this is the only gastrointestinal virus that's like that you can pick it up from the air and you can breathe it in and get infected that way. When it's an epidemic in the community like it's been recently you can pick it up," Jones said. Jones said the best thing to do this time of ...

Schools Across The U.s. Close From Stomach Bug Norovirus

... bodily fluid its just really easy to spread especially with children," said Zeitouni. Last month three schools in Colorado closed for a few days after the virus began to spread so rapidly throughout the area. LISD Health Coordinator Paulett Rozneck said they haven't seen a huge outbreak yet here in Lubbock but they have noticed children going to the nurse with tummy aches recently. "We are currently having some GI bug that is going on and it will last from a day to three days and a lot of it is the nausea and the vomiting, and the vomiting itself will make it contagious," said Rozneck. The district currently works with a company "Germ Blast" who comes in and thoroughly sanitizes the walls, desks, and floors throughout the year. Rozneck said they started working with the company last year and it has made a tremendous difference in keeping their kids healthy. "The nurses really go into all the classes and teach the kids about hand washing, and how to cover when they're coughing, and use a Kleenex," said Rozneck. Copyright 2017 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be ...

Norovirus Cases Rising In Virginia, Health Experts Advise Taking Precautions

... say students who live in close quarters are at risk. "I wash my hands a lot to prevent myself from getting sick," he said. That’s a good idea. So is washing down surfaces at home with bleach. It's not just college campuses that should be concerned but also anywhere large numbers of people gather, like nursing homes and daycare centers. "Often they may say people need to eat in their rooms for a while until the outbreak is over instead of going to a common dining hall. They may cancel group activities and things like that. The main thing is people who are sick should stay in their own private quarters away from the well people in order to prevent the spread," Woolard said. Now folks in our area are trying to fight it at all costs. "We have our own bathroom, each suite has one so we keep it pretty clean…Definitely something you’ve got to think about," said student Tyler Heath. Those who come in contact with Norovirus can be come dehydrated very quickly, especially young children and the elderly. Those ...

12 Sickened In Second Suspected Norovirus Outbreak At House Of Charity

... The shelter’s bathrooms have been under renovation for two weeks, meaning there’s no place for people to wash themselves inside the building, and making it more difficult to quarantine the infected while housing others who aren’t sick. Another outbreak, Mc Cann said, “is not something the building can physically handle.”. Local authorities are preparing for a range of scenarios. At worst, Mc Cann said, the shelter would be forced to close or temporarily relocate. “I don’t know what that would look like,” he said. “We’re all hoping it doesn’t come to that.”. In November norovirus made dozens of people ill at the House of Charity and Union Gospel Mission, prompting a quarantine until work crews could bleach-clean the buildings and supplies, from coffee pots and counters to doorknobs and toilet seats. Infected people were kept inside the building while hundreds of uninfected people who ...

Lisd Fighting To Keep Norovirus Out Of Classrooms

... more than 25,000 students in LISD, officials are still doing everything they can to keep that virus, and a variety of other illnesses, out of the classroom. When it comes to Norovirus in Lubbock, school officials say while they are thankful it hasn't been seen here, they say they are not completely out of the woods. "We're not seeing that right now. We're seeing strep, a little bit of flu, some GI….non-specific, and respiratory problems," says Paulett Rozneck, Coordinator for Student Health Services at LISD. Rozneck says now is the prime time for illness, so LISD takes precautionary measures. "The nurses go in the elementary classes. They're actually going into the classrooms and talking to the kids, showing them how to wash their hands, showing them how to cover their mouths when they cough into their sleeve," Rozneck says. And then comes the fun part, the singing. "They're used to singing ...

200 Students Sick With Norovirus Infection At Bridge Elementary

... place,” Czajkowski said. On Monday, 73 students were called out sick because of the norovirus. Czajkowski said as of 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 24, 44 students had been called out sick. Czajkowski said trying to prevent the norovirus from infecting students is next to impossible. “There’s no way to really prevent this from happening other than keeping areas clean and encouraging hand washing and not sharing things this time of the season,” Czajkowski said. Rebecca Kelly, a nurse practitioner at Carewell Urgent Care on Bedford Street in Lexington, said her office has seen many cases of norovirus ahead of the Bridge Elementary infection. “Before this outbreak, we’ve seen quite a few cases in the last couple weeks,” Kelly said. Kelly said norovirus can not be cured. All parents and children can do is allow the sickness to run its course and to practice general sanitation techniques. Kelly said norovirus is transmitted through spit and feces. Sharing food and any general contact can spread the virus. “A lot of kids don’t really know how to wash their hands properly, or they’re not doing so when they’re sent to the restrooms,” ...

22 House Of Charity Patrons Ill With Norovirus

... partners to secure care for our sick patrons and work through a number of other important steps to stem transmission. We’re grateful for the support we have in this community in working to protect the health of our homeless population.”. The illness can spread quickly in closed places like childcare centers, nursing homes, schools, shelters, and cruise ships. Most norovirus outbreaks occur from November to April in the United States. In addition to symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and/or diarrhea accompanied by abdominal cramps, some people also complain of headache, fever/chills, and muscle aches. Symptoms usually begin 24 to 48 hours after ingestion of the virus, and last 1 to 2 days. However, during that brief period, people can feel very ill. Other than drinking liquids to prevent dehydration, there is no specific treatment for a norovirus ...

Outbreak Of Norovirus Symptoms Reported At Creslane Elementary In Creswell

... Creslane students, Davis said, but some cases have been reported in middle and high school students and school staff. The true number of cases is likely higher than 37, he said. About 150 of Creslane’s 600 kindergarten-through-fifth-grade students were absent Wednesday, principal Ryan Beck said. It was unclear how many of those students were sick, and how many stayed home as a precaution. The department hasn’t confirmed that it’s norovirus, but all the symptoms are present, Davis said. “There been several recent (norovirus) cases at assisted living facilities, but this is the first large-scale school outbreak” in the county since the start of the school year, Davis said. “It’s one of the few bugs hand sanitizer won’t work for,” he added. “Bleach is the only cleaning chemical that will actually kill it.”. Creslane custodians have been cleaning the school with bleach since Monday, Beck said. In a letter to Creslane parents, Beck said students with norovirus symptoms wouldn’t be cleared to return to school until 48 hours after vomiting ...

Why It's Easy To Catch And Hard To Get Rid Of

... Norovirus acts quickly. Symptoms can come on 12 to 48 hours after exposure. It can make you feel extremely sick with diarrhea and vomiting, many times a day. Norovirus makes you vomit, violently. Norovirus is commonly known as stomach flu or winter vomiting disease. Both infections cause abdominal cramps and diarrhea, and often fever. High numbers point to norovirus. When norovirus hits, it often causes huge outbreaks — for instance, 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 of time and the numbers reported are usually much. Each year, norovirus makes 70,000 people sick enough to go to the hospital. As many as 800 people die, mostly elderly patients who become dehydrated. It's the most common cause of foodborne-disease outbreaks, CDC says. "Imagine you have a food ...