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Overseas With The Norwalk Virus

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Kristine Bryson
Overseas with the Norwalk Virus The Norwalk virus is part of a group called the Noroviruses and caliciruses. It is known to cause gastroenteritis, infection within food, food poisoning, and even the short lived nonbacterial gastroenteritis. It can spread from contaminated water and infected foods. It can even spread anywhere, even on a cruise ship. A pleasant vacation may have some passengers choosing to jump ship, if the Norwalk virus is a passenger on board.
The virus has received its name from its birth in Norwalk Ohio. It was responsible for a short term outbreak of gastroenteritis occurring in the students of Bronson elementary school in November of 1968. It wasn’t until 1972 the virus was examined and received its name as the Norwalk virus. Since its known birth, there have been many outbreaks with similar symptoms reported. It is believed the virus may belong to the family Caliciviridae. The Norwalk virus is actually part of a group of single-stranded RNA, non-enveloped viruses. Once a person is infected with the virus it begins to copy itself within small intestines. The symptoms would develop between 12 and 48 hours and tend to last 1-3 days.
In reality, the viruses from the Caliciviridae cause nearly 18% of all the short term gastroenteritis cases worldwide. The Norwalk virus is responsible for the small scale outbreaks that occur on cruise ships. Unfortunately, people who have been infected by the virus can spread it directly to other people

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