View Full Version : Norovirus going around southern Maine
Reports from hostels in Gorham and Andover August 6, 2012: hikers are experiencing a stomach bug that hits hard for 48 hours. Probably best to be using hand sanitizer and spend less time in shelters.
That bug seems to have followed the crowd up the trail this year.
Lone Wolf
08-06-2012, 08:41
hostels, shelters and sharing food cause it
hostels, shelters and sharing food cause it
Enable transmission of it, to be more precise. Good idea for people in that crowd to become germophobes for a bit.
Without a lab you don't know what kind of bug this is. These bugs happen all along the trail each year. The best thing you can do is practice good hygene and boil that food a bit longer.
Noroviruses are a genetically diverse group of single-stranded RNA, non enveloped (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus_envelope) viruses in the Caliciviridae (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliciviridae) family.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus#cite_note-isbn0-12-384684-6-0) The viruses are transmitted by fecally (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fecal%E2%80%93oral_route) contaminated food or water, by person-to-person contact,[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus#cite_note-pmid16968608-1) and via aerosolization of the virus and subsequent contamination of surfaces.[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus#cite_note-pmid18808354-2) Noroviruses are the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastroenteritis) in humans.[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus#cite_note-pmid21876931-3) Norovirus affects people of all ages.[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus#cite_note-pmid21876931-3)
After infection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infection), immunity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immunity_(medical)) to norovirus is usually incomplete and temporary.[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus#cite_note-pmid15709009-4) Outbreaks of norovirus infection often occur in closed or semiclosed 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.[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus#cite_note-pmid18177970-5) Many norovirus outbreaks have been traced to food that was handled by one infected person.[7] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus#cite_note-pmid14672828-6)
Norovirus is rapidly inactivated by either sufficient heating or by chlorine-based disinfectants (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinfectant#Oxidizing_agents), but the virus is less susceptible to alcohols and detergents, as it does not have a lipid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipid) envelope (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_envelope).[8] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus#cite_note-pmid16765204-7)
This genus name norovirus is derived from Norwalk virus which causes approximately 90% of epidemic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemic) nonbacterial outbreaks of gastroenteritis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastroenteritis)around the world,[9] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus#cite_note-pmid12692541-8) and may be responsible for 50% of all foodborne outbreaks of gastroenteritis in the United States