Posted on 01/11/2008 6:10:20 PM PST by blam
Britain in grip of norovirus as cases hit 3m
By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor
Last Updated: 1:50am GMT 12/01/2008
Three million people have been struck down by the winter vomiting bug - with experts fearing that cases could rise through this month and next.
The norovirus season began a month earlier than normal this winter. Cases of the bug increased rapidly, with more than 200,000 people a week now catching the infection, official figures claim.
Those with symptoms are urged to engage in good hygiene to prevent the virus spreading further
Hospitals struggling to cope have closed hundreds of wards to new patients. Three hospitals have been put on red alert because of a critical shortage of beds caused by people falling ill with the bug.
Some schools are sending letters to parents telling them of norovirus symptoms to look out for and asking them to keep children at home for 48 hours after the infection has cleared.
Others have installed alcohol gel dispensers for children to clean their hands before lunch.
The High Street chemist Boots said sales of anti-diarrhoea tablets were up by almost half on last year.
With millions returning to schools and the workplace this week, experts gave warning yesterday that cases of the bug - which causes vomiting and diarrhoea and can be fatal to vulnerable groups such as the elderly - could continue to rise in the next six weeks.
New cases are now being diagnosed at the same rate as during the last official epidemic five years ago.
advertisementHelen Young, the clinical director of NHS Direct, which provides health advice over the phone, said: "We are seeing an increasing number of calls about diarrhoea and vomiting.
"It is certainly one of the top two reasons people have for calling us at the moment. Norovirus is a major issue for the whole NHS right now and we urge anyone who has symptoms to engage in good hygiene to prevent it spreading further and to drink plenty of fluids."
The winter sickness crisis has been exacerbated by an outbreak of flu this week, with doctors being told to start prescribing antiviral drugs to protect those at risk.
Figures from the Health Protection Agency showed yesterday that in the final three months of last year 1,922 laboratory samples had been confirmed as the norovirus bug.
The agency estimates that for every case confirmed in the laboratory, there are 1,500 more in the community, suggesting that more than 2.8 million people - almost 1 million a month - have succumbed so far this winter. Levels of the infection are now comparable to those during the first half of the last official norovirus epidemic during the winter of 2002/03.
Last November and December, new cases exceeded the figures for 2002, but experts are uncertain as to whether the current outbreak will reach epidemic levels.
The figures show current infection levels are well in excess of last year, when there had been 935 confirmed laboratory cases by this time - only half the level seen now.
The three hospitals put on alert over the bug are in Lincolnshire, where the number of patients has risen to 20 per cent above normal.
George Briggs, the general manager for emergency care at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "We have had a 20 per cent increase in the number of people being referred to us by GPs with illnesses. We have had some with cold and flu and we have had some with the norovirus.
"We expect an increase in the winter, we always do, hence we put some beds to one side. We didn't expect a 20 per cent increase."
A spokesman for the Health Protection Agency said it was too early to say if the disease had reached its peak because the number of laboratory tested samples dropped off during the Christmas and New Year holiday period.
The pattern of the disease for the last four years has been a rapid increase in December, peaking in early January and then dropping dramatically in the early spring.
For the agency to declare another epidemic, the current rate of new cases would need to increase dramatically again in the next few weeks, or continue infecting people into the early summer months.
The latest figures came in an agency update released yesterday, which said: "This season we have seen an increase in reports of noro-virus cases, almost double the number reported for the same period last year.
"The self-limiting infection usually only lasts a few days hence the majority of cases are not reported to the clinician."
Anyone with symptoms of norovirus is advised to stay at home, drink plenty of fluids, not prepare food for others and wash their hands thoroughly and regularly with soap and water.
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Bug battle
To maximise your chances of avoiding the virus:
Avoid direct contact with anyone already infected. It is highly contagious. Do not share food or drink with anyone infected. Disinfect any surfaces you suspect may have been contaminated. Wear gloves if cleaning up anyone else's vomit. It is impossible to guarantee prevention. Children and the elderly should take special care to avoid those infected.
What to do if you have it
There is no specific treatment - the illness has to run its course so stay at home, rest and drink plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration. Take over-the-counter anti-diarrhoea treatments. Wash your hands regularly and thoroughly with soap and water. Avoid direct contact with others and avoid preparing food for others until at least 48 hours after symptoms have gone.
I heard they are making a BBC direct to TV movie about this:
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28 Rolls of TP Later
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(rimshot)
I read that whole article and still don’t know how Global Warming and/or George Bush is to blame. The press is slipping. :)
i guess mom was right about washing your hands. :)
I knew a drummer who choked to death on vomit. Actually, the fact of the matter is, well, it was someone else’s vomit.
They never determined whose vomit it was...
How does this happen in a civilized country with “the best healthcare system in the world” (or so the lefties would have us believe)?
I’ve never heard of this virus before. Do you know if it’s ever been in the US? It sounds just like the flu.
We just saw that the other night. Hee-larious!
"This goes to 11."
"It's called, "L*ck My Love P*mp".
"Tap's audience has become more selective."
......and on and on and on.....
Very common...worldwide.
Stories like this make me think of international air travel and cruises. Thankfully, Norovirus doesn’t have a high mortality rate.
It’s the one that spreads all over the cruise ships every year.
Foot-washing in public water fountains?
i had it.
i thought i was a fire hydrant.
i didn’t know it was possible to puke like that!
i re-hydrated with electrolytes.
The only time I have heard of it is when a few cruise ships were hit with it about a year or so ago. But this article refers to it as the "norovirus season"; so, I have to think they get it quite frequently.
Yup, it’s all over USA too.
CDC does not track it unless it’s suspected to be food borne.
It usually hits the USA in the thousands per week in wintertime, but not, as far as I know, in the millions. Sometimes across USA there will be hundreds of thousands of cases, but the UK and EU frequently hit the million or more mark in winter.
It hits summer camps and cruise ships regularly in the US.
Most call it the Stomach Flu (influenza is a respiratory disease, not a gastro), or Acute Gastroenteritis.
It is actually very common in the USA.
Wife & I had it last February. It’s awful for about 12 hours. Comes on suddenly with no symptoms. Figure we’re immune for a few years now.
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