Beijing CDC reminds: This infectious disease is prone to occur in schools, pay attention to six points for prevention

Editor's note: Autumn and winter are the peak seasons for norovirus acute gastroenteritis infection. People are generally susceptible to norovirus, which often causes clustered outbreaks in crowded places such as schools and kindergartens. So, how can we prevent it?

After a person is infected with the norovirus, symptoms usually appear within 12-48 hours, leading to acute gastroenteritis, mainly manifested by vomiting, diarrhea, fever, chills, etc. Norovirus is a highly contagious pathogen that is mainly transmitted through the fecal-oral route, including ingestion of contaminated food and water, contact with patient excrement or vomitus, contact with contaminated hands, objects or utensils, and ingestion of aerosols produced by feces or vomitus. Shellfish such as oysters and raw fruits and vegetables are common foods that cause viral infections. Norovirus acute gastroenteritis is a self-limiting disease with mild symptoms, usually lasting 2-3 days, and has a good prognosis.

How to prevent Norovirus infection? Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention kindly reminds students, parents and schools to do the following:

Parents and students should

1. Develop good eating and hygiene habits

Do not drink raw water, drink boiled water or choose hygienic and qualified bottled water. Wash and dry raw fruits and vegetables. Oysters and other shellfish must be heated until they are cooked before eating. At the same time, you should strengthen physical exercise, eat a balanced diet, and improve your body's resistance.

2. Maintain good hand hygiene

Wash your hands with soap and running water before meals, after defecation, and before processing food. Disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizers cannot replace hand washing.

3. Avoid close contact with patients

Norovirus is highly contagious. Remind your children that if a classmate vomits in the class, they must leave the scene under the guidance of the teacher to reduce the possibility of infection with the norovirus.

4. Home isolation during illness

Cases need to be isolated at home or in the hospital depending on their condition until 3 days after all symptoms disappear. Asymptomatic carriers who only test positive for norovirus through stool or anal swabs but do not show symptoms of acute gastroenteritis need to be isolated at home for 3 days.

Patients should use their own dining utensils and daily necessities, try not to have close contact with others, and pay special attention not to prepare food and not to take care of the elderly and infants.

5. Do a good job of disinfection

Chlorine-containing preparations are needed to disinfect the environment and objects contaminated by the patient's vomit or feces (disinfectants with alcohol as the main ingredient are not as effective). 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 to avoid transmission within the family.

6. Don’t worry too much after you get sick

There is currently no specific medicine or vaccine for Norovirus acute gastroenteritis. The condition is generally mild, short-lasting, and has a good prognosis. Patients should get enough rest and eat a light diet. If vomiting and diarrhea symptoms are severe, seek medical treatment in a timely manner.

Schools or childcare institutions should

1. Formulate infectious disease prevention and control plans and emergency plans

Schools/childcare institutions should formulate infectious disease prevention and control plans and emergency plans, and regularly clean and disinfect public places on campus/campus such as classrooms, dormitories, canteens, toilets, and key areas such as door handles, stair railings, faucets, toilet buttons, elevator buttons, and bed rails.

2. Management of drinking water and food safety

Manage drinking water and food safety well, educate students/children not to share water cups or tableware, and pay attention to food hygiene when sharing food.

3. Equipped with sufficient personal protection and disinfection supplies

Schools/childcare institutions should have sufficient disinfection supplies and personal protective equipment as backup, toilets should be equipped with sufficient hand-washing facilities and soap, and targeted infectious disease knowledge education and hand-washing method training should be carried out in daily activities.

4. Do a good job of disinfection

The school doctor/garden doctor should prepare disinfectant for all teachers and cleaning staff, and carry out training and assessment on daily disinfection methods, and disinfection methods for vomitus and contaminated areas.

5. Isolate sick people promptly

When a student/child vomits, the teacher should immediately evacuate other students/children, report to the school doctor/kindergarten doctor, cooperate with the school doctor/kindergarten doctor and cleaning staff to handle vomit in a standardized manner, isolate the sick student/child, and notify the parents to take them to the doctor or go home to rest. The patient can only return to class after 3 days of isolation after the symptoms disappear. Food processors, caregivers, kindergarten caregivers and other patients engaged in service work should leave their jobs immediately after becoming ill or testing positive, and can only return to work after 2 consecutive negative stool tests.

6. Report epidemics promptly

School doctors/kindergarten doctors should report the epidemic situation to the local health department and primary and secondary school health centers by telephone in a timely manner after the outbreak, and carry out further data reporting, case management and other work under the guidance of professional personnel.

7. Suspension of all large-scale collective activities

During the outbreak, schools/childcare institutions should stop holding various activities that gather people to avoid the spread of the epidemic. If the scope of the epidemic further expands, based on epidemiological assessments, childcare institutions can suspend classes or close kindergartens for three days based on the advice of the medical and health departments, and schools can take measures such as home classes based on the approval of the Education Commission.