Whether last week’s norovirus outbreak in Taichung’s Hoya Resort Hotel Wuling (武陵富野渡假村) was caused by norovirus GII.17 — a genotype common in certain African nations — has not been determined, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
The agency made the remarks after a norovirus outbreak at the hotel over the Lunar New Year holiday affected more than 200 guests and employees.
Norovirus infections cause rapid onset of vomiting and diarrhea. The virus is transmitted through the fecal-oral route, primarily via contaminated food or water.
CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said there are many genotypes of norovirus and that local cases last year were caused mostly by GII.4 and GII.6 strains.
“GII.17 genotype was first detected in Taiwan in October 2013, before disappearing shortly later. However, it re-emerged in the nation late last year and has since been the most predominant genotype circulating in the country,” Chuang said.
Chuang said the world’s knowledge about the GII.17 strain’s pathogenicity and level of communicability is still limited, except that it caused a cluster of infections in Africa and Brazil in 2005 and 2006 respectively, and affected a few individuals in the US and Japan in recent years.
“We are still trying to gather all the information we can,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Chiayi County Health Bureau yesterday confirmed that a total of 18 people were suspected of having contracted norovirus in the county’s Alishan (阿里山) area over the past few days.
“They began suffering from vomiting and diarrhea during the period from Tuesday to Thursday last week. A preliminary testing showed that their symptoms could have been caused by a norovirus infection,” the bureau said.
Three of the suspected cases were tourists, while the rest are staffers from the Alishan House (阿里山賓館), the bureau said.
The bureau’s preliminary investigation showed that the small norovirus outbreak could have originated with one of Alishan House’s kitchen workers, who visited a hospital on Tuesday last week for a blood pressure spike.
While at the hospital, a patient waiting next to the worker complained of vomiting and loose stools and was believed to have passed the virus to the employee, who also experienced similar symptoms after returning to the hotel, the bureau said.
Hoya Resort Hotel Group (高野大飯店), which operates Hoya Resort Hotel Wuling, yesterday said the incident could cause about NT$4.5 million (US$142,000) in losses, even though no significant financial impact is expected.
Medical spending for infected customers would be covered by insurance policies, the company yesterday said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Hoya said it would return payments to customers who checked in on Monday and yesterday, during the outbreak.
Hoya said it would resume offering rooms today after a two-day shutdown, but its restaurants would remain closed until the health department releases its inspection results.
Additional reporting by Lisa Wang
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