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Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk

Stomach Flu Outbreak 2016
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Medclinician View Drop Down
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    Posted: February 22 2016 at 10:54am
Update March 20, 2016 - This is spreading

http://depauliaonline.com/2016/02/19/stomach-flu-depaul-lincoln-park/

With literally dismal tracking of "the stomach flu" not all Norovirus outbreaks are food related and may be spreading.  Perhaps it is "the season" but a lot of people are dying and there are simply no headlines in the mainstream media. Perhaps Norovirus is not seasonal, but it has recently mutated and it could become far more deadly.

According to Assistant Director of Emergency Management Cheryl Hover, the illness began last weekend when six students were transported to the hospital with stomach pains.

Since then, it has spread across campus. As of Friday, 31 students are known to have contracted the illness, with the most reported cases in Seton Hall. As a result, Facility Operations has ramped up its cleaning efforts, through deeper sanitation of residence halls.

This outbreak is not due to issues with air or food quality, Hover said.

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Big 10-4 on the consciousness of this bug. The usual pattern in my household is I catch something at the plaza, isolate myself, and my mother doesn't catch it. She doesn't go out that much to catch anything. This has been circulating around the plaza along with upper respiratory flu and I was lucky enough not to catch it there. But somehow my mother caught it, got sick on Wednesday and is still recovering. I got sick on Friday night. My mother's illness was stomach and intestinal; mine was merely intestinal. We only spent 5 minutes together, but we do share a bathroom, and that's all it takes.
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Good topic!  My brother lives in an assisted living facility, and they are undergoing an outbreak of Noro.  Given the age of the population (over 70), I expect there will probably be mortalities. 

Alcohol hand preps are no good at stopping norovirus.  The only thing that works is soap and water, with (preferentially) drying with paper towel.  The virus is remarkably resilient to chemicals and is easily spread by fecal/oral route through prepared food, contaminated surfaces, damn near anything. 

Med, thanks for bringing this otherwise often ignored pathogen to our attention.  
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Originally posted by CRS, DrPH CRS, DrPH wrote:

Good topic!  My brother lives in an assisted living facility, and they are undergoing an outbreak of Noro.  Given the age of the population (over 70), I expect there will probably be mortalities. 

Alcohol hand preps are no good at stopping norovirus.  The only thing that works is soap and water, with (preferentially) drying with paper towel.  The virus is remarkably resilient to chemicals and is easily spread by fecal/oral route through prepared food, contaminated surfaces, damn near anything. 

Med, thanks for bringing this otherwise often ignored pathogen to our attention.  


Thanks CRS, DRPH. This one has been coming in below the radar and there are outbreaks where it has not been related to food sources and appears be contagious. As we first saw this emerge ...
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/sydney-norovirus-strain-responsible-royal-caribbean-sickness/story?id=22399831 it became apparent it is not seasonal and happens year round.

Although it may just be a 3-5 days of hell, sometimes it lasts longer and can come back. This is on the watch list because it can move with Swine Flu and co-infect people.

It is not simply food poisoning. It can be spread person to person.

http://www.foodborneillness.com/norovirus_food_poisoning/

Norovirus is the leading cause of gastroenteritis, or what we commonly think of as stomach flu symptoms. It causes 23 million cases of gastroenteritis per year, or over half of all gastroenteritis cases in the U.S., and is the second most common virus after the common cold. 

Norovirus is usually transmitted from the feces to the mouth, either by drinking contaminated food or water or by passing from person to person. Because noroviruses are easily transmitted, are resistant to common disinfectants, and are hard to contain using normal sanitary measures, they can cause extended outbreaks.

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We have the occasional kid with stomach virus but not going through school like noro did last year.   I got noro last year.

Hope it stays away this year.

Lol know how I know how many kids have stomach flu...count how many wet clean up spots on the carpet especially in front of or in the office area...yuck!
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Originally posted by FluMom FluMom wrote:

We have the occasional kid with stomach virus but not going through school like noro did last year.   I got noro last year.

Hope it stays away this year.

Lol know how I know how many kids have stomach flu...count how many wet clean up spots on the carpet especially in front of or in the office area...yuck!


Ironically this kind of reporting is probably more accurate than the formal numbers being put up. You are going to see it in the schools up close and personal. Noro may have gotten more stealthy. After all, I think many of these bugs are trying to go symbiotic. That is where you catch them and they learn to live in the body without killing it and don't ever go away.

That does not mean people remain healthy. There may be frequent flair ups and eventually combined with newer viruses it could start taking people out.

Watch the cruise ships and Australia. For some reason Noro seems to love compact long duration contact to flourish or students sitting next to each other for hours at a time.

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http://www.belmarrahealth.com/norovirus-outbreak-2016-update-stomach-flu-hit-boynton-beach-coventry-elementary-and-oakfield-primary-school/




Norovirus outbreak 2016: More reports of the norovirus have come to light including an outbreak at Boynton Beach, Coventry Elementary and Oakfield Primary School.

As reported earlier, the Norovirus outbreak started at Chipotle restaurant and spread to the west coast. Other stomach flu outbreaks on cruise ships and a number of educational institutions were also confirmed.

Many children are staying home at a South Florida elementary school after norovirus-like symptoms have been appearing. At least 100 children have not been attending Citrus Grove Elementary School in Boynton Beach with 180 absent children as of March 7, 2016 and 250 as of March 11, 2016.

The same goes for Coventry Elementary School where nearly 35 percent of students did not attend classes due to norovirus. Both students and teachers have been staying home during the second week of March due to norovirus, but they don’t rush to go back as soon as symptoms subside to make sure they are free from illness.

Representatives of the school say they will hold off on testing for norovirus unless a spike of symptoms occurs again. Health officials recommend that students and teachers be free of vomiting and fever for at least 24 hours before returning back to school. The school has since been sanitized.

Possible norovirus outbreak at Oakfield Primary School in Dartford, Kent in the UK

Another school saw an outbreak of norovirus-like symptoms in Dartford, Kent. Oakfield Primary School had over 600 children stay home out of fear of norovirus outbreak. Over 100 children feel ill with what is suspected to be norovirus, while the remaining students stayed home even if they were not sick to avoid catching the illness.

Executive head Garry Ratcliffe said, “We have had higher levels of absence than normal during the week and it came to a head yesterday when we had over 100 children absent.”

Medclinician - The Real News - Why doesn't the media report this stuff? Some people near and dear to me are very sick with this. These are not local outbreaks. This is a bug. Has it mutated?

http://wfla.com/2016/03/15/norovirus-at-florida-school-sickens-dozens-of-students/
http://www.kentucky.com/living/health-and-medicine/article66053012.html
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/school-hit-norovirus-health-scare-7538019
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2016/03/lafayette_cancels_classes_acti.html
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/louise-storm/field-notes-from-the-fron_b_9524680.html

It seems this season’s stomach flu has been particularly widespread and vicious, at least in our house. Over the course of eight days, every one of my four young children, as well as my husband, succumbed to the tummy bug. I was the last to fall, my mama-immunity holding out just long enough to get the family through. During that horrible week between the thirty-odd loads of laundry, side-stepping cups of re-hydration fluid strewn alongside my ailing loved ones, and tending to multiple concurrently sick kids, I honed some best practices for what I hope will never ever happen again. Or at least until all our kids can aim at a bucket.

comment: on the front lines from a flu which has little or no media coverage.

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I work at an assisted living facility on the east coast of Florida and we have had a gastroenteritis bug sweep through the residents and staff alike. I am a fanatic hand washer but was exposed when someone suddenly projectile vomited onto the tile floor at my feet and contaminated matter splattered everywhere. Within 48 hours I was doing the same. Judging by the symptoms and duration norovirus is suspected and stool samples were sent for testing but I haven't heard the results yet. I hope the administration reports it if the results confirm noro. Personally, I have telling all visitors what has been happening here and advising that they delay the visit and instructing them on when and how to wash hands.
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Originally posted by CoastalKid CoastalKid wrote:

I work at an assisted living facility on the east coast of Florida and we have had a gastroenteritis bug sweep through the residents and staff alike. I am a fanatic hand washer but was exposed when someone suddenly projectile vomited onto the tile floor at my feet and contaminated matter splattered everywhere. Within 48 hours I was doing the same. Judging by the symptoms and duration norovirus is suspected and stool samples were sent for testing but I haven't heard the results yet. I hope the administration reports it if the results confirm noro. Personally, I have telling all visitors what has been happening here and advising that they delay the visit and instructing them on when and how to wash hands.


Thank you for posting CoastalKid and hoping we will be getting more reports of these outbreaks. While Norovirus can be caused by bad food it can spread person to person nationwide.

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