BALTIMORE — If you get it, it's no fun: a day or two of vomiting and diarrhea, courtesy of the highly contagious norovirus.
According to CDC metrics through early December, outbreaks of the virus, which causes gastroenteritis, are on the rise.
"It's a very small germ that's passed person to person, typically," Dr. James Campbell, infectious disease pediatrician at the University of Maryland Children's Hospital, told WMAR.
Campbell explained children and adults can get norovirus from someone else, on food, in water, and from surfaces.
“There’s huge numbers of cases every year—millions of cases in the United States and lots of outbreaks. Most of those outbreaks occur in what we call semi-closed communities. Schools, daycare centers… people know about cruise ships, of course. Long-term care facilities, those sorts of cases," Campbell said.
So why are we seeing more of it now?
“We don’t know why certain viruses like the cold months," Campbell answered. "There’s probably multiple reasons for it, but it has this funny title, funny other name which is winter vomiting illness. So it tends to come mostly in the winter. It’s primarily because—probably—people are in closed spaces, so they have more contact with each other.”
There is no licensed vaccine for the virus. But there are several preventative measures within your control.
"The number one thing is hand washing," Campbell said. One thing to know about this virus is that what we've been using throughout the pandemic—and people are using a lot more now—is are alcohol- based hand hygiene. Does not work that well for norovirus, unfortunately."
You'll also lose a lot of fluids, so Campbell says to stay hydrated.
With the New Year's holiday and work and school reopening, many more are set to gather again. Campbell said if you don't feel well, simply stay home.
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