Norovirus Infects The US

Norovirus Infects The US.
Norovirus, the revolting stomach bug that's sickened countless boat ship passengers, also wreaks havoc on land. Each year, many children see their doctor or an emergency room due to severe vomiting and diarrhea caused by norovirus, according to unique research from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC announce estimated the cost of those illnesses at more than $273 million annually. "The main point we found was that the salubriousness care burden in children under 5 years old from norovirus was surprisingly great, causing nearly 1 million medical visits per year," said the study's outdo author, Daniel Payne, an epidemiologist with the CDC. "The advance point was that, for the first time, norovirus fitness care visits have exceeded those for rotavirus".

Rotavirus is a common gastrointestinal illness for which there is now a vaccine. It's momentous to note that the rate of norovirus hasn't been increasing in young children. The object norovirus is now responsible for more health care visits than rotavirus is that the incidence of rotavirus infection is dropping because the rotavirus vaccine is working well.

Results of the scrutinize are published in the March 21, 2013 scion of the New England Journal of Medicine. Norovirus is a viral illness that can affect anyone, according to the CDC. It commonly causes nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and appetite cramps.

Most people revive from a norovirus infection in a day or two, but the very young and the very old - as well as those with underlying medical conditions - have a greater jeopardize of becoming dehydrated when they're sick with norovirus. The virus is very contagious. Payne said it takes as few as 18 norovirus particles to infect someone. By comparison, a flu virus may grasp between 100 and 1000 virus particles to cause infection.

Payne said relations who have been infected can also put spreading the virus even after they feel better. Norovirus is difficult to determine definitively. The test that can confirm the virus is costly and time consuming so there have not been good details on how many children are affected by it each year.

To get a better idea of how prevalent this infection really is, the researchers unperturbed samples from hospitals, emergency departments and outpatient clinics from children under 5 years outdated who had acute gastrointestinal symptoms. The children were from three US counties: Monroe County, NY; Davidson County, TN; and Hamilton County, OH.