@All parents, protect our sacred beasts! The Norovirus, scarier than the Big Bad Wolf, is here

After entering winter, the temperature drops sharply and the temperature difference between morning and evening is large. Viral vomiting and diarrhea caused by Norovirus also enter the peak season.

On November 30, Jihong Primary School in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province issued an emergency school suspension notice because some students showed symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea. After testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it was confirmed that norovirus patients had appeared in some classes.

(Screenshot of video from Beijing News Weibo)

On November 25, more than 50 students at Dora Kindergarten in Yantan District, Zigong, Sichuan, suffered from vomiting and diarrhea. The Health Bureau later reported that the vomiting incident was caused by Norovirus infection.

(Screenshot of video from Beijing News Weibo)

On October 25, 16 students of Bayan County Senior High School developed mild vomiting and diarrhea symptoms, and the CDC's test results showed that they were infected with the Norovirus.

(Screenshot of video from Beijing News Weibo)

From October to March of the following year is the peak period of Norovirus. What is its origin that can cause a large number of children to be infected?

01
How powerful is Norovirus?

Norovirus is a highly contagious enterovirus. Although it is very small, 100,000 of them are equivalent to a small ant, it is highly infectious and a dozen virus particles can infect a person. The main symptoms for children are vomiting, and diarrhea for adults. There is currently no vaccine or specific medicine. After contracting the disease, the main treatment is rehydration and symptomatic treatment, and it usually takes 2 to 3 days to recover.

02
How can we prevent Norovirus on campus? Schools are crowded places, prone to concentrated outbreaks of Norovirus. How can we prevent Norovirus to protect the future of our country? Jia Lei, deputy director and chief physician of the Infectious Disease and Endemic Disease Control Institute of Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, explains in detail.

Key points:

Daily tasks should include morning and afternoon inspections, registration of absences due to illness, hand hygiene, environmental disinfection, and canteen management. When a student vomits in the class, the teacher should immediately evacuate the students and isolate the sick students. Trained personnel should handle the vomit in a standardized manner and report to the school doctor. When the school doctor finds that the number of vomiting or diarrhea in kindergartens or childcare institutions reaches 3 cases in 3 days, the local disease control department should be reported in a timely manner. When kitchen workers develop related symptoms, they should leave their jobs immediately.

03

Children are most susceptible to norovirus infection. How can families prevent it? When it comes to norovirus, parents, especially those with children, are all like facing a formidable enemy, because its vitality and combat effectiveness should not be underestimated. How can we protect the future flowers of the motherland from being infected by norovirus?

Key points:

Develop good eating and hygiene habits. Maintain good hand hygiene. Avoid close contact with patients. Stay at home during illness. Do a good job of disinfection. Strengthen physical exercise, eat a balanced diet, and improve body resistance.

04
The vomit of a Norovirus infected person is particularly "toxic", how to deal with it? In collective places such as kindergartens and schools, improper handling of vomit is an important cause of Norovirus outbreaks. How to deal with it correctly?

Key points:

① Evacuate people quickly. Vomiting is sudden. When it occurs, people around the vomit should be evacuated quickly and windows in the classroom should be opened for ventilation.

② Isolate the sick patients. Take the sick patients to the isolation room for observation.

③ Take personal protection measures. Disinfection personnel should wear protective equipment in sequence according to the procedures, including: disposable hats, disposable medical masks, double-layer disposable medical latex gloves, and disposable shoe covers.

④ Disinfect and dispose of vomit. Immediately cover the vomit with an absorbent towel, prepare a disinfectant solution with an effective chlorine content of 5000~10000mg/L, fully soak the absorbent towel, completely cover the vomit, and act for more than 30 minutes. After the disinfection effect, move the vomit wrapped in the absorbent towel into a yellow garbage bag; then use the absorbent towel dipped in disinfectant to wipe and disinfect the vomit contaminated area, and perform multiple operations to ensure thorough disinfection.

⑤ Personnel sanitation disposal. After handling the vomit, the disinfection personnel should disinfect their hands with 0.5% iodine tincture or cotton balls for 3 minutes, remove the first layer of gloves, take off the protective equipment and the second layer of gloves, and put them into a yellow garbage bag for medical waste disposal. After the operation, disinfect your hands with 0.5% iodine tincture or cotton balls for 3 minutes. Finally, rinse your hands with running water according to the "seven-step hand washing method".

In the face of the aggressive Norovirus, everyone must remember the above knowledge and never be careless!