More than 7,500 people sought medical attention for diarrhea during the first three days of the Lunar New Year holiday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that nearly 90 percent of the cluster diarrhea outbreaks were caused by norovirus.
Norovirus-triggered symptoms drew public attention when a temple manager in Tainan on Wednesday threw up during President William Lai’s (賴清德) visit, with part of the vomit landing on Lai’s left shoulder and arm.
The temple manager later said he had contracted norovirus from family members.
Photo: Liu Wan-chun, Taipei Times
Hospitals reported 7,581 visits due to diarrhea on the first three days of the Lunar New Year holiday, including 2,256 on Monday, 2,825 on Tuesday and 2,500 on Wednesday, CDC data showed.
Wednesday’s number was down by 68.3 percent compared with the same time last year, but up by 21 percent compared with 2024, the centers said.
Norovirus, which can survive for a long time in vomit and feces, is primarily transmitted through the fecal-oral route, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital said.
People can get infected by consuming food or water contaminated with the virus, or by touching surfaces contaminated with an infected person’s vomit or feces and then touching their own mouth, nose or eyes, it said.
If an infected person’s vomit becomes aerosolized into droplets, people in close contact might become infected as well, the hospital added.
“As the pathogen is highly contagious, outbreaks can easily occur, not only among infants, elderly people and people with weakened immune systems, but also in crowded settings such as care facilities, schools, hospitals, cruise ships and military bases,” it said.
Symptoms usually show up 24 to 48 hours after infection, with the most common symptoms including nausea, vomiting, watery diarrhea, and fever, the hospital said.
A small number of people might also experience respiratory symptoms, headaches or muscle aches, it added.
Though acute gastroenteritis caused by norovirus typically resolves in about two to three days, people remain contagious from the onset of symptoms until at least three days after recovery, the hospital said.
In some immunocompromised people, the virus might still be found in the stool and the person could remain infectious for up to two weeks after recovery, it said.
To prevent norovirus infection, people should properly wash their hands with soap or hand sanitizer before preparing food or eating, after using the toilet, and after caring for a person who might be infected, such as changing diapers for infants or elderly people or handling their excreta, the CDC said.
Contaminated clothing and bed linen should be changed immediately and disinfected with bleach at concentrations of 1,000 to 5,000 parts per million, depending on the level of contamination, the centers said.
Contaminated surfaces can be disinfected by wiping with a solution made from 20ml of bleach mixed with one liter of water, while vomit and feces should be cleaned and disinfected using a solution of 100ml of bleach mixed with one liter of water, it said, adding that alcohol is not effective in killing norovirus.
There is no vaccine to prevent norovirus gastroenteritis, the CDC said.
Because norovirus has multiple strains with significant genetic variations, infection with one strain of the virus does not provide immunity against others, it said.
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