-Caveat Lector-
From
http://www.thisislondon.com/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=49101
8&in_review_text_id=448950
http://www.thisislondon.com/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=49111
6&in_review_text_id=449185
}}}>Begin
>>>First<<<
London braced for 'winter vomiting'
by Harriet Arkell
London is bracing itself for thousands of victims of the winter
vomiting bug as the epidemic which is sweeping the country advances
on the capital.
More on this Story
What the winter bug does to you >>>See "second"<<<
>From Scotland to the South Coast, offices and schools have been left
half empty as the vicious, airborne stomach infection - characterised
by projectile vomiting and diarrhoea - has "cut like a knife through
butter".
Sufferers are urged to stay at home and not to inundate doctors'
surgeries and hospital outpatient departments.
One leading London GP said: "There isn't very much any doctor can do.
Victims are best advised to just let it run its course, unpleasant
though it is."
First detected in Stirling a week ago, the virus has reached as far
as Hertfordshire, Sussex, Hampshire and Dorset.
Symptoms of the gastric flu include sudden projectile vomiting,
diarrhoea and fever, and it can kill the very young and very old.
"It is often mistaken for food poisoning because when you are sick
you really are sick and it comes out like a torrent," said Dr Mike
Painter, head of Manchester's infection control unit.
"It must be stressed that this is very, very infectious and will go
through a place like a knife through butter. It is very common and
many of the cases aren't reported.
"It doesn't take much of the virus to affect anyone close by, and
although it starts hitting people in ones and twos, it then explodes
because enough people have been affected."
Simon Gregor, of the Public Health Laboratory, said: "It is estimated
there are between 600,000 and a million victims every year - which
makes it the biggest cause of gut infection. It happens all year
round, but it peaks in winter.
"It is an unpleasant disease but it does not pose other
complications. The best thing to do is to stay at home and weather
the storm. The main thing to do is to keep drinking fluids to avoid
dehydration. It usually clears up on its own after a couple of days."
Dr John Cowden, a consultant epidemiologist in Glasgow, said: "We are
not talking about feeling a bit dicky and chucking up in the toilet
bowl - people can vomit straight out for about a yard."
The airborne virus can pass from person to person with ease. Some of
the first reported cases were in Scotland's Forth Valley, where 56
staff and patients were affected in two hospitals.
Fowey Community College in Cornwall said 535 pupils were suffering
from the flu, while in East Sussex whole year-groups had to go home
from Newhaven Tideway secondary school because so many of their
teachers were off sick.
Almost a quarter of pupils and 25 teaching staff at the Wey Valley
School in Weymouth, Dorset, have the virus. Head teacher Marcia
Headon said the outbreak was putting enormous pressure on the school.
The number of people in hospital with the infection is expected to rise. Twelve
hospitals across Scotland have been affected. Health chiefs at Glasgow's Victoria
Infirmary, which has been worst hit, today revealed another
increase in cases.
The bug's official title is the Norwalk-like Virus, after the town in Ohio where it
was first identified.
While it is rarely lifethreatening - with almost everybody affected recovering
completely - it costs the NHS huge sums every year because of outbreaks in hospitals.
What the winter bug does to you
Email this article to a friend
© Associated Newspapers Ltd., 23 January 2002
>>>Second<<<
What the winter bug does to you
The bug is commonly known as the small round structured virus in
Britain, but its more official title is the Norwalk-like virus, after
the town in Ohio, in the United States, where it was first
identified.
It causes unpleasant symptoms such as projectile vomiting and
diarrhoea and fever for between 24 and 48 hours. "We are not talking
about feeling a bit dicky and chucking up in the toilet bowl. I am
told that people can vomit straight out for about a yard," said Dr
John Cowden, consultant epidemiologist at the Scottish Centre for
Infection and Environmental Health in Glasgow.
The virus is airborne and can pass from person to person with ease,
for example through coughing and vomiting.
It is often found in hospitals, schools, or places such as cruise
ships. Restaurants can also be affected, as the bug can be food-
borne.
The bug is rarely life-threatening, with almost everybody affected
recovering completely.
However, it costs the NHS huge sums of money every year because of
hospital outbreaks.
Health officials say the number of reported cases is the tip of the
iceberg, as many people suffer the illness but do not contact their
doctor.
Research conducted by Dr Cowden has shown that for every case
recorded in official statistics, there are about 1,500 cases which
are unreported.
There were 1,951 laboratory reports of the virus in England and
Wales in 2000 compared with 208 in the same year in Scotland.
Scotland reported 328 official cases in 2001.
The Department of Health estimates that the bug affects up to 1% of
the British population every year.
Email this article to a friend
© Associated Newspapers Ltd., 23 January 2002
End<{{{
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