{"id":22911,"date":"2025-02-27T10:36:43","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T11:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=22911"},"modified":"2025-02-27T12:23:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T12:23:52","slug":"health-chiefs-warn-of-potential-second-norovirus-wave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=22911","title":{"rendered":"Health chiefs warn of potential second norovirus wave"},"content":{"rendered":"
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People who have already had norovirus, the winter vomiting bug, could be at risk of catching it again this season, experts from the the UK’s Health Security Agency say. <\/p>\n

Data shows a different strain of the virus is on the rise and having had one strain doesn’t necessarily protect you from catching another, they advise.<\/p>\n

Norovirus can be particularly severe for young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems. <\/p>\n

Cases are currently still “exceptionally high” with numbers at more than double the five-season-average for this time of year, latest figure show.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Amy Douglas, Lead Epidemiologist at the UKHSA, said the biggest impact was being seen in hospitals and care homes. <\/p>\n

“With multiple genotypes spreading at the same time, people could end up getting infected more than once this season,” she added.<\/p>\n

Cases have been higher than expected partly because of the emergence of a recent strain of the virus called GII.17, but also because of improved ways of testing for the virus. <\/p>\n

Data now shows that a different, but more commonly seen strain, is on the rise. <\/p>\n

This means people who have already had the bug could catch it again as having one version of the virus does not fully protect you against the other. <\/p>\n

There is no suggestion that either strain leads to more severe illness than expected, however.<\/p>\n

Norovirus cases usually starts to decline as the weather warms up, but the UKHSA says it is too soon to work out whether cases have peaked. <\/p>\n

The total remains close to its record high, with an average of 1,134 patients a day in hospital with norovirus last week \u2013 down slightly on the previous week (1,160), but still nearly two and a half times that seen in the same period last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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If you think you may have norovirus, experts advise:<\/p>\n

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  • Stay at home and do not return to work or school until two days after the vomiting and diarrhoea has stopped<\/li>\n
  • Drink plenty of fluids<\/li>\n
  • Wash your hands regularly with soap and water<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Many household disinfectants do not work well against the virus. Nor do alcohol hand gels.<\/p>\n

    If you are concerned – for example if a young child is not able to keep fluids down or the illness does not stop after a few days – make sure you seek medical advice<\/p>\n

    Do not visit hospitals and care homes or prepare food for others, until 48 hours after symptoms have stopped.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    People who have already had norovirus, the winter vomiting bug, could be at risk of catching it again this season, experts from the the UK’s Health Security Agency say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22913,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22911"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22914,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22911\/revisions\/22914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}