Earth Watch Report - Biological Hazards
Norovirus linked to 9 deaths2:39
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| Description |
| A
serious outbreak of norovirus may have caused the deaths of nine people
at the Selkirk Place Care Facility in Victoria this month. The
Vancouver Island Health Authority said although the cause of death in
each case has not been determined, it believes the flu-like virus likely
contributed. VIHA confirmed 100 patients, half the population at the
facility, are sick, with three having to be hospitalized since July 11.
Norovirus - once known as Norwalk virus �" is highly contagious and
often spreads in places like schools, cruise ships and nursing homes,
especially during the winter. Sometimes mistakenly called stomach flu,
the virus causes bouts of vomiting and diarrhea for a few days. A new
strain of the virus evolves every two or three years; the latest was
identified earlier this year and is known as the Sydney strain. There
are no drugs for the treatment of norovirus itself, although it is
important to drink lots of fluids to guard against dehydration. This
latest outbreak comes just two months after 29 people on a cruise ship
heading for Vancouver came down with the virus. |
| Biohazard name: | Norovirus (fatal) |
| Biohazard level: | 2/4 Medium |
| Biohazard desc.: | Bacteria and viruses that cause only mild disease to humans, or are difficult to contract via aerosol in a lab setting, such as hepatitis A, B, and C, influenza A, Lyme disease, salmonella, mumps, measles, scrapie, dengue fever, and HIV.
"Routine diagnostic work with clinical specimens can be done safely at
Biosafety Level 2, using Biosafety Level 2 practices and procedures.
Research work (including co-cultivation, virus replication studies, or
manipulations involving concentrated virus) can be done in a BSL-2 (P2)
facility, using BSL-3 practices and procedures. Virus production
activities, including virus concentrations, require a BSL-3 (P3)
facility and use of BSL-3 practices and procedures", see Recommended
Biosafety Levels for Infectious Agents. |
| Symptoms: | |
| Status: | confirmed |
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| Updated: |
Thursday, 01 August, 2013 at 07:14 UTC |
| Description |
A fast-spreading norovirus outbreak that sickened more than 150 and
could be linked to nine deaths may be coming to an end at a Victoria,
B.C., seniors’ home, the Vancouver Island Health Authority said
Wednesday. The virus infected 106 residents and 53 staff members at
Selkirk Place since the outbreak began July 11. While nine people have
also died since then, and norovirus may have been a contributing factor,
the health authority said the causes of deaths still have to be
determined. “The residents are generally quite elderly and frail and
have multiple health conditions,” spokeswoman Sarah Plank said in a
phone interview. “So they’re certainly at risk from it, but generally
people don’t die of norovirus, but rather with norovirus.” Norovirus is
part of a group of viruses that causes severe vomiting and diarrhea.
Most people are able to recover after a few days, but for elderly people
with chronic illnesses, the highly contagious virus is something their
bodies can ill-afford, said chief medical officer Dr. Richard Stanwick.
“What you have is a virus that would give you and I some grief for maybe
three days, but for somebody who is struggling with sometimes 10 to 11
medical conditions, this is really just one more thing the body just
can’t handle,” he said.
“Unfortunately what happens is the norovirus creates a stressor and
pushes people over into heart failure or other conditions that will
ultimately claim their life.” While norovirus is common in the
summertime and in long-term care homes, Plank said the outbreak at
Selkirk Place was unusually wide-spreading. Forty people became ill
within 24 hours of the first case, she said. “Usually if it’s just one
or two cases, you can confine it, you isolate the patients and you keep
them to their own floor so you can contain the outbreak to just one
floor or one unit,” she said. “But in this one, because there was such a
large number of people who became ill so quickly, it spread to more
people than we would normally see.” Stanwick said the norovirus that
swept through Selkirk Place was likely “the garden variety,” and not a
new, nastier strain that was detected in Australia and the U.S. last
year. However, the fact that so many people became ill so rapidly is
concerning, and suggests the virus came from a common source, he said.
“From time to time, we do eventually discover that somebody had a sick
child who came in, who was just feeling a little off,” he said. “It
doesn’t always present as this violent illness, but it’s enough that
they can actually shed the virus and unknowingly pass it on because
they’re so mildly ill, they didn’t realize they had a norovirus
infection.” Stanwick said the health authority will be investigating who
at the Victoria care home may have been sick prior to the outbreak, as
well as whether anyone who may have had the virus was handling the
facility’s food. Plank said staff at Selkirk Place did everything they
could to control the outbreak, including isolating sick residents in
their rooms, doing additional cleaning, restricting visitors,
rescheduling hospital visits, and allowing only healthy residents to
dine in common areas. Eleven people remain ill at the care home, but
Plank said she believes the outbreak has peaked, and the worst is over.
Still, Stanwick warns that norovirus is still circulating in the
community, causing at least one summer camp on Vancouver Island to send
children home after an outbreak.
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Norovirus linked to 9 deaths in B.C. care home
Virus is highly contagious and causes vomiting and diarrhea
Posted: Jul 30, 2013 6:35 PM PT
Last Updated: Jul 31, 2013 3:41 PM PT
An outbreak of norovirus has been linked to the deaths of nine people at the Selkirk Place care facility in Victoria this month.
The
Vancouver Island Health Authority said although the cause of death in
each case has not been determined, it believes the gastrointestinal
virus likely contributed.
VIHA confirmed 100 patients, half the population at the facility, are sick, with three having to be hospitalized since July 11.
Norovirus
— once known as Norwalk virus — is highly contagious and often spreads
in places like schools, cruise ships and nursing homes, especially
during the winter.
The stomach bug causes bouts of vomiting and diarrhea which can last for a few days.
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