Japan: Norovirus outbreak affects scores in Kumamoto Prefecture
Officials in Japan report a norovirus outbreak in Kumamoto Prefecture in the southwestern part of the country, according to a The Mainichi report.
At least 124 people reported symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms after playing in a river near the Todoroki Falls. In all of the cases, the patients' symptoms were mild.
Norovirus strains among patients and in the water; however, officials could not definitively conclude this as there were differences in the genetic types of the virus found in the patients and the river.
The prefectural government says the same type of norovirus was detected in water samples collected around the falls in the Kumamoto Prefecture city of Amakusa on Aug. 19 and 23. But stool samples of six people with symptoms uncovered a genetically different norovirus strain.
Norovirus is a highly contagious viral illness that often goes by other names, such as viral gastroenteritis, stomach flu, and food poisoning.
The symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and some stomach cramping. Sometimes people additionally have a low-grade fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, and a general sense of tiredness. The illness often begins suddenly, and the infected person may feel very sick. In most people, the illness is self-limiting with symptoms lasting for about 1 or 2 days. In general, children experience more vomiting than adults do.
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Norovirus is spread person to person particularly in crowded, closed places. Norovirus is typically spread through contaminated food and water, touching surfaces or objects contaminated with norovirus and then putting your hand or fingers in your mouth and close contact with someone who is vomiting or has diarrhea.