Related topics: virus

Coronavirus forces new approaches to fighting wildfires

They are two disasters that require opposite responses: To save lives and reduce the spread of COVID-19, people are being told to remain isolated. But in a wildfire, thousands of firefighters must work in close quarters for ...

Gut microbes alter characteristics of norovirus infection

The highly contagious norovirus causes diarrhea and vomiting and is notorious for spreading rapidly through densely populated spaces, such as cruise ships, nursing homes, schools and day care centers. Each year, it is responsible ...

Researchers grow norovirus in human cells

University of Florida researchers have grown a human norovirus in a cell culture dish, finally opening the door to developing medications for fighting the intestinal scourge that strikes tens of millions every year in schools, ...

Could pizza herb prevent winter vomiting disease?

Scientists have found that carvacrol – the substance in oregano oil that gives the pizza herb its distinctive warm, aromatic smell and flavour – is effective against norovirus, causing the breakdown of the virus' tough ...

Human norovirus in groundwater remains infective after two months

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from Emory University have discovered that norovirus in groundwater can remain infectious for at least 61 days. The research is published in the October Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Raw sewage: Home to millions of undescribed viruses

Biologists have described only a few thousand different viruses so far, but a new study reveals a vast world of unseen viral diversity that exists right under our noses. A paper to be published Tuesday, October 4 in the online ...

Norovirus

Norovirus (formerly Norwalk agent) is an RNA virus (taxonomic family Caliciviridae) that causes approximately 90% of epidemic non-bacterial outbreaks of gastroenteritis around the world, and may be responsible for 50% of all foodborne outbreaks of gastroenteritis in the US. Norovirus affects people of all ages. The viruses are transmitted by faecally contaminated food or water, by person-to-person contact, and via aerosolization of the virus and subsequent contamination of surfaces.

After infection, immunity to norovirus is usually incomplete and temporary. There is an inherited predisposition to infection, and individuals with blood type O are more often infected, while blood types B and AB can confer partial protection against symptomatic infection.

Outbreaks of norovirus infection often occur in closed or semi-closed communities, such as long-term care facilities, overnight camps, hospitals, prisons, dormitories, and cruise ships where the infection spreads very rapidly either by person-to-person transmission or through contaminated food. Many norovirus outbreaks have been traced to food that was handled by one infected person.

Norovirus is rapidly inactivated by either sufficient heating or by chlorine-based disinfectants, but the virus is less susceptible to alcohols and detergents as it does not have a lipid envelope.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA