[blam]

It’s always something.

[bill1952]

Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.

Pay the bill on your way out.

[T. P. Pole]

OK, what is that in the foreground of that picture?

[glorgau]

28 Days Later...

[missnry]

Barf!

[Southerngl]

YOU’RE SICK!! DO NOT COME TO THE DOCTOR OR HOSPITAL! STAY AWAY!!

?????????????

[UCANSEE2]

From Wikipedia:

Norwalk viruses from Genogroup II, genotype 4 (abbreviated as GII.4) account for the majority of adult outbreaks of gastroenteritis and often sweep across the globe.

Recent examples include US95/96-US strain, associated with global outbreaks in the mid- to late-90s, Farmington Hills virus associated with outbreaks in Europe and the United States in 2002 and in 2004 Hunter virus was associated with outbreaks in Europe, Japan and Australasia.

Last year (2006) there was another large increase in NoV infection around the globe.

In December, 2007 there was an outbreak at a country club in northern California where around 80-100 people got sick.

Two new GII.4 variants caused around 80% of those Norovirus associated outbreaks and they have been termed 2006a and 2006b.

[don-o]

That nasty thing went through my whole family early last year - spaced out so at least one was well enough to care for others.

Not fun.

[DBrow]

I checked the US CDC site, and we don’t track noro or Acute Gastroenteritis (AGE) unless it’s suspected to be foodborne. So our records here show thousands nationally, not two million as shown in the Telegraph article.

We could have more than a million cases, but if it’s not foodborne it’s not recorded.

CDC did a special study on elder healthcare facilities, where the vector was believed to be person-to-person, but in general it’s not tracked!

I can recall reports of summer camps with AGE, and more than a few cruise ships where 80% get it.

We do monitor OTC drug purchases (this report is for NYC but there is a national system too) to detect outbreaks of certain things (nausea and diarrhea meds would spike in a norovirus outbreak) but I can’t yet access the data to see the extent of the problem here.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su5401a9.htm

[familyop]

...looks like another nasty people disease.

From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Norovirus: Q&A [excerpt]

How do people become infected with noroviruses?

Noroviruses are found in the stool or vomit of infected people. People can become infected with the virus in several ways, including:

* eating food or drinking liquids that are contaminated with norovirus;
* touching surfaces or objects contaminated with norovirus, and then placing their hand in their mouth;
* having direct contact with another person who is infected and showing symptoms (for example, when caring for someone with illness, or sharing foods or eating utensils with someone who is ill).