In addition to adding clothes in the beginning of winter, we should also be wary of norovirus. The disease it causes is called norovirus diarrhea, and the most common symptoms are diarrhea and vomiting. Because of its obvious seasonality, it is often called "winter vomiting disease".

Here are some tips from 120. Norovirus mutates quickly, and it has strong environmental resistance, low infection dose, short incubation period after infection, long detoxification time, short immune protection time, and diverse transmission routes. Besides, the whole population is generally susceptible. Getting the disease from eating is the biggest feature of norovirus infection. According to the transmission characteristics of norovirus, its transmission routes are mainly human fecal-oral transmission or direct contact with surfaces contaminated with excreta, eating food or drinking water contaminated with norovirus.

What are the clinical signs of norovirus infection?

1. Fast onset: The incubation period after norovirus infection is relatively short, usually 12-48 hours.

2. Multiple symptoms: Norovirus infection usually occurs with diarrhea and vomiting, accompanied by nausea, abdominal pain, headache, fever, chills and muscle aches. Post-infection diarrhea is common in adults and vomiting after infection is more common in children.

3. Short course of disease: The course of norovirus infection cases is usually short, and the average duration of symptoms is 2‐3 days. It is a disease with self-limitation and no sequelae. However, a small number of cases still develop severe disease and even death.

How is norovirus infection treated?

At present, there are no specific antiviral drugs. What we can do is generally symptomatic treatment of symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, and fever. If you have other more serious symptoms, such as dehydration, you should see a doctor promptly.

How could we prevent norovirus infection?

There is currently no specific vaccine against norovirus, and the protection time of antibody after infection is short, so recurrent infection is possible. However, the absence of a vaccine does not mean that it cannot be prevented. The following tips could help you prevent norovirus.

1. Wash your hands. Practicing good hand hygiene is the most important and effective measure to prevent norovirus infection and control its spread. Adopting the 6-step handwashing method and washing with soap and running water for at least 20 seconds are the correct ways for washing hands.

2. Cook thoroughly. It is necessary to develop good hygiene habits, such as avoiding drinking raw water, eating less raw food, and separating raw and cooked food.

3. Thorough disinfection. Chlorine-containing disinfectants could be used to disinfect contaminated environments or surfaces of items. Alcohol and rinse-free hand sanitizer are not advisable.