Posted on 12/07/2002 10:52:37 AM PST by RCW2001
Norwalk virus won't kill you, but you might pray for death while you're in its nasty grasp. Highly contagious and extremely unpleasant, the stomach bug has recently forced the closure of hospital wards in Alberta, New Brunswick and Ontario, plagued cruise ship passengers in Canada and the United States and made life miserable in seniors' homes in different parts of the country. Once called winter vomiting disease, Norwalk virus is what most people think of as a really bad bout of "stomach flu." (The term is a misnomer because influenza — the flu — affects the respiratory system, not the gastrointestinal tract.) It hits with speed, clearing out a person's system faster than a batch of extra-strength castor oil. The result: "24 to 48 hours of feeling like you want to die," said Dr. Mary Vearncombe, an infection control specialist at Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, which closed its emergency department for five days last month after the virus hit the medical staff. "The vomiting is often projectile — I guess the adjective is self-explanatory. The diarrhea can be quite explosive, so it's very unpleasant," Vearncombe said. Those activity-limiting symptoms can be accompanied by abdominal cramps, headache, low-grade fever and aching muscles. Most people recuperate within two or three days without any serious or lasting health effects. That's the good news. The bad news is that Norwalk virus is actually not one bug. There are a number of Norwalk-like viruses circulating at any given time. That means your bout with one won't necessarily make you immune to another. "There are a number of different strains of these viruses, so you can get it multiple times," Vearncombe said. Norwalk moves like greased lightening through families and groups of people — schools, hospital wards, long-term care facilities — striking the healthy and the not-so-healthy with equal ease. The virus is particularly adept at hitting humans for a couple of reasons, Vearncombe said. First, exposure to a small number of the bugs is enough to make you sick. Second, the bug can lie in wait on inanimate objects for extended periods of time, perhaps as long as 12 days. Think sink faucets. Or bathroom door knobs. Yes, Norwalk is one of those charming viruses that is spread by what the experts call "the fecal-oral route." Infected people shed the virus through their stool. In the process of wiping themselves, they can easily contaminate their hands. If they don't wash them properly, they can deposit the virus on bathroom or other surfaces or can spread it to other people by hand-to-hand contact. The minute a newly infected hand goes into the mouth, the cycle begins again. "You hear of outbreaks after pizza lunch at school," Vearncombe noted. "One of the kids is shedding the virus and they may not know it. And their hands are dirty and everybody's hands go into the pizza box. And the next person who picks up a piece of pizza gets it." It's not just kids, particularly at this time of year. Christmas cookies and chocolates that are passed around offices are also an excellent delivery vehicle. Good personal hygiene is the Number 1 defence against the Norwalk virus. "Handwashing and xenophobia. Hermits rarely get this disease," quipped Dr. Brian Ward, an infectious disease specialist at McGill University in Montreal whose family just suffered through a bout of Norwalk. If you succumb, there is little really that you can do but ride the wave of the virus. Drink plenty of fluids if you can. Stay close to the bathroom. Don't go to work and infect your colleagues. Most people who get the bug don't need to seek medical care, Vearncombe said, though the risk of dehydration in the very young and the very old means they may need help. "It's mainly riding it out and trying fluid replacement," Vearncombe said, adding something like Gravol can be used if the vomiting is severe.
Were these gay cruises???
Think "Bill Clinton", Mr. Sinkerator.
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