04 March 2013/21 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/14 Esfand 1391
The British Empire‘s Queen Elizabeth the 2nd hospitalized with what could be norovirus. And yet another U.K. hospital goes down; Cheltenham General Hospital is banning all visitors because of an outbreak. Hospital officials say it’s just “precautionary”. Also, the Worcestershire Royal, Redditch Alexandra and Kidderminster hospitals continue to restrict visitations. Health officials are reporting 30% more cases of norovirus in Worchestershire than in the rest of the West Midlands. In East Sussex the Eastbourne District General Hospital says two of its wards are on visitor restrictions after recent outbreaks.
Iowa U.S.A. reporting two outbreaks. Residents and staff of a nursing home and students in a school are the latest victims: “This is happening all over the state; no place is spared.”-Patricia Quinlisk, Department of Public Health
A Canadian travel writer, writing for The Province, praised a Holland America cruise ship captain: “Kudos to Captain Rowden and the crew of the Ryndam whose heroic efforts stopped the spread of the nasty Norwalk virus that had sneaked aboard the ship.”-Joseph Kula
A Canadian family wasn’t so lucky on their vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The family had read warnings from other people who stayed at their hotel; that there was a possible stomach bug outbreak. The Saskatoon family tried to switch hotels but ended up staying in the infected one. They got sick and were sick for long after they got home: “I’ve missed out on a lot of classes and I’m really behind. I’ve been so sick and I’ve lost so much weight and I’m so weak.”-Rebecca Hennes
In the Waterloo Region of Ontario, Canada, the Grand River Hospital declared its vomiting bug outbreak over. At least three patients and eight employees were sick. One patient is still sick.
In the vacation hot spot of Bermuda, the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital’s Gordon Ward experienced an outbreak. 16 patients and 17 employees were sick. The latest reports say six of them are still showing symptoms: “One new patient case of gastroenteritis in Gordon Ward has occurred in the last 24 hours. Gordon Ward continues under current strict precautions, including enhanced cleaning practices, visitor restrictions, and restrictions of new admissions and transfers. All patients who are unwell are in isolation rooms and visitors and staff must put on disposable protective wear before entering, and dispose of it on leaving the room. It is recommended that current restrictions/interventions continue at least through Friday.”-Bermuda Hospital Board
The norovirus is spreading in Bermuda. On 01 March 2013 the Building Blocks Academy preschool shut down because teachers were sick.
In Kanawha County, in West Virginia U.S.A., the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department is investigating numerous cases of student absences at county schools. They are trying to establish how many students are sick with norovirus.
In Arizona U.S.A., Sunrise Park Resort officials are cooperating with federal, state, local and tribal health authorities after an outbreak hit the ski resort last week. Inspectors have ruled out food as the source, meaning it was spread human to human.
More reports blaming stomach infections on reusable grocery bags. Oregon U.S.A. health officials already linked a 2009 outbreak to reusable grocery bags, now the results of a new study out of environmental nutville California U.S.A. says reusable bags are behind a 46% increase in illness! The study looked at San Francisco, which banned recyclable plastic bags in 2007. The study looked at emergency room cases involving E.Coli (a bacteria, not a virus like Norwalk/norovirus), and found such cases jumped in San Francisco and not in the surrounding counties who had no such bag ban. For those who insist on using the reusable bags they must be cleaned regularly.
In Maryland U.S.A., McDaniel College saw more than two dozen students out sick with norovirus. This is yet another case where health officials say food was not involved in spreading the virus.
Health Protection Scotland reporting that 2012 saw 2900 lab confirmed cases of norovirus, a 75% increase from 2011! It’s still less than the record of 3109 cases in 2010. Scottish health officials estimate that for every one case reported there are 290 cases that go unreported.
Did you know the first norovirus case occurred in 1968 in Norwalk, Ohio U.S.A. This is why it is sometimes called the Norwalk virus. However, the 1968 outbreak was not confirmed until 1972, when researchers were finally able to identify the cause. Ever since then, year after year, there are more and more cases, and stronger and stronger versions of the virus.