Preventing norovirus from attending holiday gatherings

Tis the season to share your dinner table with relatives and friends. The holiday season hits just after Montana DPHHS logged in 7 gastrointestinal (GI) outbreaks in the first three weeks of November.

Five of these GI outbreaks have been caused by norovirus, a bug that causes 1-3 days of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea sometimes accompanied by fever, chills and body aches. It is highly contagious and can be spread either directly from a sick person, or indirectly from contaminated food or commonly touched surfaces such as doorknobs, remote controls, faucet handles, etc.

Norovirus is the leading cause of disease outbreaks from contaminated food in the US. It is estimated that around 20 million people become ill each year because of norovirus. It takes very little amount of virus, estimated 18 viral particles, to make a person sick. To put that in perspective, when a person is sick they can shed billions of viral particles, and if the head of a pin was covered with the virus, it would be enough to infect 1000 people!

Preventing its spread

To keep from spreading norovirus to others, infected people should not return to work or school for at least 2 days after their symptoms have gone away. This is especially important for those who prepare food for others or who care for others such as health care, day care, or residential care workers.

Whether well or sick, washing hands rather than using hand sanitizer is important. Alcohol rubs do not kill the virus, and the action of washing with soap and warm water mechanically removes the contamination from the hands.

Norovirus is resistant to many household cleaners, so sanitizing the contaminated surfaces with a chorine (bleach) cleaner is recommended after removing any visible soil. Make a bleach solution by mixing 5-25 tablespoons of bleach per gallon of water. Mix a fresh batch each day you clean to ensure the strength and potency of the disinfectant.

Other premixed disinfectants are EPA-approved and available to kill norovirus.

Follow the link below for more information on how to keep from catching or spreading norovirus. http://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/preventing-infection.html