Alcohol is ineffective against it! This virus is entering its peak period

Recently, disease control departments in many places have issued reminders that norovirus has entered its peak period. Norovirus cluster outbreaks mainly occur in places where people gather, such as schools and childcare institutions. The start of the school year is the peak season for norovirus infection. What is norovirus? What symptoms will patients experience after infection? The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention has released an authoritative popular science article.

What is Norovirus?

Norovirus belongs to the Caliciviridae family and is one of the common pathogens that cause acute gastroenteritis. Norovirus gastroenteritis can occur throughout the year. Generally, October to March of the following year is the peak season for Norovirus infection, and the general population is susceptible. Norovirus has the characteristics of low infection dose, long detoxification time, and strong resistance to the external environment. It is easy to cause gastroenteritis outbreaks in relatively closed environments such as schools and childcare institutions. Norovirus is an RNA virus and is extremely prone to mutation. New mutants appear every few years, causing global or regional outbreaks.

How is Norovirus transmitted? Cases and latent carriers are the sources of infection of Norovirus. There are various routes of transmission, mainly through ingestion of food or water contaminated with feces or vomit, contact with feces or vomit of patients, inhalation of aerosols produced during vomiting, and indirect contact with objects and environments contaminated with feces or vomit. What are the main symptoms of Norovirus gastroenteritis? The incubation period of Norovirus infection is 12 to 72 hours, usually 24 to 48 hours. Common symptoms are mainly nausea, vomiting, fever, abdominal pain and diarrhea, and some patients have headaches, chills and muscle aches. Children mainly vomit, while adults mostly have diarrhea, and the feces are watery or watery. How to treat Norovirus gastroenteritis? Norovirus gastroenteritis is a self-limiting disease, and there is currently no effective antiviral drug. Most patients have mild symptoms after onset and do not need treatment. They can recover after resting for 2 to 3 days. Oral sugar saline or oral rehydration salts can be taken to replenish the water consumed by vomiting and diarrhea. For infants, young children, and the elderly, especially those with underlying diseases, if they experience more serious symptoms such as dehydration due to frequent vomiting or diarrhea, they should be treated promptly.

How can individuals and families prevent norovirus infection?

Keep your hands clean. Wash your hands correctly according to the 6-step hand washing method before eating, after going to the toilet, and before processing food, using soap and running water for at least 20 seconds. However, please note that alcohol-containing disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizers are ineffective against norovirus and cannot replace hand washing.

Pay attention to food and water hygiene. Do not drink raw water, wash vegetables and fruits thoroughly, and cook food thoroughly, especially oysters and other shellfish and seafood.

Cases should be isolated at home as much as possible to avoid infecting others. Norovirus infected people should be isolated as much as possible from the time of illness to 3 days after recovery. Mild patients can be isolated at home or in the epidemic site, and severe patients need to be sent to medical institutions for isolation and treatment. During this period, patients should wash their hands frequently, keep their hands clean, try not to have close contact with other healthy family members, eat and sleep separately, and especially do not cook or take care of the elderly and young children.

Do a good job of environmental cleaning and disinfection. Maintain a suitable indoor temperature and open windows for ventilation regularly. Chlorine-containing preparations are needed to disinfect the environment and objects contaminated by the patient's vomit or feces. When cleaning objects contaminated by vomit, plastic gloves and masks should be worn to avoid direct contact with contaminants. The patient's home environment should also be disinfected according to the guidance of medical staff to avoid transmission within the family.

Maintain a healthy lifestyle. Maintain a healthy lifestyle such as regular work and rest, proper diet, and moderate exercise to enhance the body's resistance to viruses.

How can childcare institutions and schools prevent Norovirus infection?

Timely discovery and standardized management of cases. Childcare institutions and schools should do a good job in student health management, strictly implement morning (noon) inspections and registration and investigation of absences due to illness, etc. Once patients with symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea are found, they should seek medical treatment in a timely manner and be isolated and managed. If an abnormal increase in cases is found, report it immediately to the disease control agency and relevant administrative departments.

Strengthen the management of drinking water and food hygiene. Provide safe drinking water, manage drinking water well, check for damage and leakage in the drinking water supply network, regularly clean and disinfect secondary water supply facilities, and conduct drinking water quality testing to ensure water supply safety. Supervise food raw materials and processing links, pay attention to separating raw and cooked food, and cook thoroughly.

Strengthen health management for kitchen workers, childcare workers and other employees. Childcare institutions and schools should monitor the health of kitchen workers and childcare workers. If they have symptoms of intestinal infectious diseases such as diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea, they should immediately stop working and seek medical treatment in a timely manner to prevent them from going to work while sick. Wear masks and maintain good hand hygiene during food preparation and meal distribution.

Clean and disinfect the environment. Regularly clean and ventilate public places on campus (such as classrooms, dormitories, canteens, libraries, toilets, etc.), and regularly clean and disinfect key areas (such as door handles, stair handrails, faucets, toilet buttons, elevator buttons, bed handrails, etc.).

Vomitus should be handled in a scientific and standardized manner. Vomitus and feces of cases should be handled by personnel who have received standardized training in accordance with relevant operating guidelines. The focus should be on disinfecting the surfaces of environmental objects, daily necessities, food processing tools, and drinking water contaminated by vomitus and feces.

Source: Pentium Media

Editor: Wenya

Reviewer: Wang Lei