Noroviruses are human RNA viruses in the family Caliciviridae and are a major cause of epidemic gastroenteritis( inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract). They are responsible for at least 95% of viral outbreaks. They are highly contagious and are sometimes called food poisoning because they can be transmitted through food and water that has been contaminated with the virus. Infection with noroviruses are generally acute and self limited. They survive and live in places like restaurant, day care centres and nursing homes. Since they are highly contagious, they can survive temperature extremes in water and and in surfaces, this is one of their virulence factor.
The people that are usually affected are young children and the elderly ones. This is because in the elderly ones, they have reduced immune system and thus will not have effective defense system that will ward off the virus while in young children (infants) there is also underdeveloped immune system. This meaning that their immune system have not been fully developed and thus are also susceptible to the viral infection.
Transmission
As said earlier Fecal-oral spread is generally the most important mode of transmission of Noroviruses. They can also enter the food chain through contamination by food handlers who have been infected with the virus.
It necessary to point out here that these virus are very and extremely stable and they can remain infectious for weeks or months in the environment.
These calls for proper hygiene practice among the human population.
Symptoms
Nausea, vomiting (more often in children), watery diarrhea (more often in adults) and stomach cramps, chills, muscle aches, fatigue, low grade fever and headache are the common symptoms experienced. Most of the symptoms are not serious but diarrhea and vomiting can deplete the body fluids and thus lead to dehydration, this is often associated with adults but not specifically as it can also occur in children
Diagnosis
One of the effective way of diagnosing this virus is through the examination of diarrhoric stool sample from the infected patient. This is done to done to detect the presence of the virus in the stool. A more sensitive method is the use of Real time Polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR )
Treatment
Norovirus like other viruses do not respond to antibiotics which are designed to kill bacteria.
No antiviral drug can treat noroviruses
but in healthy people, the ilnes is generally acute and self limited within 3days of infection, but can last up-to one week. Oral rehydration solution (such as pedialyte) is given to children to replace lost fluids and electrolytes. Avoidance of sugar drinks, as well as alcohol and Cafffeinated beverages which can dehydrate the person further is very important.
Prevention
Good hygiene is the key to prevention especially when one is close to other people.
Washing of raw fruits and vegetables thoroughly also reduces the chances of one been infected. Oysters and other Shel fish must be thoroughly and well cooked before eating them.
Conclusion
It is important that we maintain the culture of personal hygiene bearing in mind that these viruses have no cure, though they are self limited but can be fatal. Wash fruits and Cook foods well before eating them.
Thanks for reading.
Kindly follow me @cyprianj for more updates on medics and latest trends in medical field. Your positive state of health is my concern.
References :
https://mdpi.com/journal/viruses
Viruses 2010, 2, 748-781; doi:10.3390/v2030748
https://thejournalofpathology.com
J Pathol 2015; 235: 206–216
Picture sources:
All images are from https://pixabay.com
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Hi @cyprianj.
It was really interesting to learn more about the norovirus. Here in Norway we have been seeing lots of news coverage because this virus was found in lots of cabins here during the entire easter, and lots of people got sick. The people in charge decided to use ethanol to clean the cabins, which did not work since the virus survived the ethanol cleaning :P Anyway, great post man! Keep it up ;)
@valth Thanks so much for your kind reply and complement , I am glad you appreciated my efforts. Intimating people about medics is really a calling for me and I am willing to go extra mile to ensure that people are aware of this notorious enemy.
Thanks so much for reading
I personally do this mistake that if foods smell fresh and good, I assume they are safe to eat. This is not always the case because there are viruses that cannot be detected just like that, like salmonella in raw eggs for example.
Very true @elemenya ....even the toasted foods like sausage we buy are potential source of microorganisms like clostridium botulinum...
Been careful about what we eat the right thing to be done before eating them keeps us away from the deleterious effect they have.
Thanks for stopping by
Thanks for the health post, I always thought that food poisoning just meant the food was bad or rotten. Guess I was wrong @cyprianj
Thanks for the read....i appreciate.
I do also think same, not until my eyes was opened in the medical world.
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Hello! I find your post valuable for the wafrica community! Thanks for the great post! @wafrica is now following you! ALWAYs follow @wafrica and use the wafrica tag!
This virus is very annoying! I bet everyone of us has suffered it at least one time.
PS: a gentle advice about pics. Its really recommended in the @steemstem community to use pictures from free sources like wikipedia commons, pixabay, pexels, among other free sources, and of course, to leave said source at the end of the post.
Cheers man!
Thanks man..... Well pointed out. I stated the source of the pics I used at the end of the article. All pics where from Google.
Thanks for stopping bye.... Grateful
Hi @cyprianj, the images you used are not cited according to steemstem guidelines for copyright standards. Please check the guidelines and correct your images accordingly:
https://steemit.com/steemstem/@steemstem/guidelines-on-copyright-standards-in-steemstem
Alright..... Thanks so much for the link
I guess it is better now....
I have effected the necessary changes
Your images are still not credited according to guidelines, first linking is not proper (you need to link the image to a webpage, not a google result), second - your images are not allowed for reuse. Maybe you could try finding free images on pixabay.com or pexels.com.
Alright... Maybe I will have to seek out for help on that, if I don't succeed then I will have to change the image and source from pexel
Pls check it out for further corrections...thanks
All good now, thanks for the corrections! :)
So happy.... Was like huh, hope no mistakes again.
Thanks so much for the guidance, I am indeed grateful
Ahh the lovely Norovirus....this little virus made me the sickest I've ever been. Viruses are totally creepy. They're not really living things, they seem difficult to categorize in biology. Total weirdos of the biosphere
Lol...... Lovely virus?? Seriously????
A pathogenic organism ain't meant to be lovely, it's devastating.
Thanks for checking in
Obviously its not lovely..saracasm 😄
Aiit 👍👍
One thing you just know, when you have ever experienced Noro-Virus is, that the diarrhoea smells like hell!! It´s hard to not-smell the disease.