A total of 13 clusters of acute diarrhea — with 679 people having related symptoms — have been reported this year, the highest number for the beginning of January recorded in five years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, warning of the risks of mass norovirus infection.
There were 122,967 reported cases of diarrhea last week, which is an increase of about 3 percent compared with the previous week’s 119,346 cases, the centers’ disease monitoring data showed.
The number of weekly reported cases has been increasing for three consecutive weeks, the data showed.
CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center director Liu Ting-ping (劉定萍) said 13 clusters of acute diarrhea outbreak had been reported between Jan. 1 and Sunday, more than the 10 cases reported in the same period last year.
Most of the clusters were on school campuses with 76 percent, while restaurants and hotels accounted for 12 percent of the cases and other cases have occurred at workplaces, homes and cram schools, she said.
A total of 679 people in the 13 clusters reported symptoms and two of the clusters were confirmed as norovirus infection.
The cause of the 11 other outbreaks is still being investigated, including four outbreaks at junior-high schools in Taipei that made more than 500 students ill last week, CDC deputy director-general Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said.
“The weather has been colder so norovirus can survive better,” he said, adding that genotype GII.2 norovirus has been the most common form of infection.
“As elementary and preschool children are most affected by the outbreaks, parents should remind children to wash their hands thoroughly with soap after using the toilet and before meals,” Lo said.
Hand sanitizers do not kill viruses, so the centers advises people to wash their hands with soap and water, he said.
People with norovirus should stay at home and rest, and not return to school or work for 48 hours after diarrhea and vomiting have stopped, but if they cannot stay at home, they should wear a facial mask, wash their hands frequently and avoid touching their nose and mouth to prevent spreading the virus, Lo said.
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