Infections
What stops norovirus?
Norovirus causes explosive attacks of vomiting and diarrhea
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The current norovirus outbreak is one of the strongest in years. Our science editor explains what helps now.
It’s the horror of cruise captains and daycare parents: the norovirus, which is currently rampant in our country and leads to explosive attacks of vomiting and diarrhea. His current season is shaping up to be the strongest in a decade. According to the Robert Koch Institute, the number of reported cases is already twice as high as a year ago. And the season of accumulation of infections is likely to last until March, certainly with local mass outbreaks.
Such hotspots are due to the fact that the virus is so flexible: once excreted, infectious norovirus can float in the aerosol of vomit or in excretions. It also spreads through droplets and food that an infected person has touched, or from glass to glass through bar dishwater. A tiny dose of virus, 10 to 100 copies, is enough to trigger the rapid onset of nausea or diarrhea. This leads to sudden, huge outbreaks in community facilities.
Norovirus is dangerous for small children and seniors
Unlike the second important intestinal virus, Rota, there is still no vaccine against Noro. It is dangerous for small children and seniors – due to the severe loss of fluids, which must be compensated for, in severe cases also through infusions. Noro is heat and freeze resistant, only powerful disinfectants such as 80 percent alcohol and chlorine remove it. Consequently, all Noro cases must be reported, because the best way to stop the outbreaks is to break the contact chains. Since the illness only lasts days, this usually works well.
Anyone who is affected should avoid contact with others to prevent the virus from spreading further – using your own toilet is ideal. And: When you have diarrhea and vomiting, the body not only loses water, but also minerals such as sodium, potassium and chloride, which are needed for many bodily functions. These losses should be replaced to avoid dehydration. The traditional pretzel sticks and sweet tea diet comes from this.
Even better: electrolyte replacement solutions. They are specially formulated to provide the right balance of salts and sugars to allow for rapid rehydration. They are available in pharmacies and follow the WHO recommendation for oral rehydration salts (ORS).
Otherwise, an uncomplicated Noro disease is self-limiting: the virus “goes through once” with unpleasant force, so to speak, and then the situation calms down completely within a few days. Although anti-diarrheal or anti-emetic preparations are available, they do not work directly against the virus.