Norovirus conjures a nightmarish series of gastrointestinal symptoms, and the hated infection has been rampant this winter. The so-called stomach flu—although it’s unrelated to influenza—strikes suddenly and curses its victims with one to three days of diarrhea and vomiting.
Yet unlike other commonplace infections such as seasonal flu and COVID, no vaccine exists to help people avoid being sidelined by norovirus, a notoriously transmissible and resilient virus that is difficult to kill with common alcohol-based disinfectants. Vaccine developers have long worked to create a vaccine—some seven different candidates are currently in various stages of clinical trials. But none has proved effective enough to earn approval in the U.S. There are several scientific barriers, but researchers hope that soon one approach will meet the challenge and provide an effective tool to those who want to boost their immune system against the nasty infection.
What Is Norovirus?
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Norovirus is responsible for more than half of foodborne illness cases in the U.S. The virus can survive for up to two weeks on surfaces, flourishes in the face of common hand sanitizers and rips through settings such as cruise ships and cafeterias. Typical symptoms of infection include diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach pain; people can also experience fever, headache and body aches. Cases with severe vomiting and diarrhea increase the risk of serious dehydration.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s data regarding norovirus outbreaks are quite limited: the agency’s surveillance network for the infection includes only 14 states. Still, the picture these statistics paint is grim. The reporting states have seen 1,078…
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