Epidemiology and Infection · 2004 · 60 citations · 23 references
Veterinary MedicineInfectious Disease ControlInfectious DiseasesInfectious Disease EpidemiologyOutbreak InvestigationVirologyGastrointestinal InfectionsInfectious DiarrheaInfectious Disease SurveillanceOutbreak ManagementViral EpidemiologyViral InfectionsBacteriological DiagnosisDirect Person-to-person TransmissionGastrointestinal Outbreak DetectionNorovirus DetectionNorovirus GastroenteritisNorovirus InfectionOlder ResidentsViral Outbreak Investigation
An increase in gastroenteritis outbreaks due to Norovirus has been reported worldwide. We investigated a large-scale outbreak affecting 246 residents and 33 staff members in six nursing homes in the Tel-Aviv district, Israel, during 3 weeks in 2002. Person-to-person spread was noticed in all nursing homes. The spread of disease could not be attributed to social interactions. Among the elderly residents, the hospitalization rate was 10.2% and the case-fatality rate was 2.0%. Bacteriological cultures were negative. Overall, 7 out of 15 stool specimens were positive for Norovirus by RT-PCR. All were sequenced and found to be 90% identical. The characteristics of this outbreak and the RT-PCR results suggest that illness was caused by Norovirus. Due to the high case-fatality rate of Norovirus gastroenteritis, there should be a high index of suspicion when encountering a gastroenteritis outbreak among the elderly. This will enable prompt action to stop the spread of illness.
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Sequence and Genomic Organization of Norwalk Virus
Xi Jiang, Min Wang, Kening Wang et al. · Virology · 1993 · 638 citations
Tamie Ando, Stephan S. Monroe, Jon R. Gentsch et al. · Journal of Clinical Microbiology · 1995 · 383 citations · Full text