Norovirus Emerges As A Tough Competitor At The 2018 Winter Olympics

Dancers perform during the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at PyeongChang Olympic Stadium on February 9, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Photo by Cui Nan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

In the Olympic motto, "faster" and "stronger" (as in "faster, higher, stronger") aren't referring to vomiting and diarrhea. But norovirus is an Olympian among gastrointestinal viruses and has been spreading at PyeongChang, South Korea, site of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

As mentioned earlier in Forbes, Aron Hall, DVM, MSPH, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has described norovirus as the "perfect pathogen". In other words, norovirus is the Apollo Anton Ohno of pathogens, with the emphasis on "oh, no." This is because norovirus seems to be designed by nature to be very strong and spread very fast. It's a quite hardy virus that can remain on food, utensils, plates, surfaces, and other objects for days or even weeks and can withstand many standard disinfectants. The virus is also highly contagious. As few as 18 virus particles can cause an infection.

And the virus causes those infected to do exactly what would help spread the virus from both ends: 1 to 3 days of vomiting and diarrhea-ing to the point where you can get quite dehydrated. This vomit and poop are quite infectious as well. Just a gram of poop can have up to 5 billion viruses. (If you don't commonly weigh your poop, the average healthy person poops 450 grams of poo a day. A norovirus infection can significantly increase this number.) Oh, and the virus mutates quite readily, meaning that even if you are infected and build up an immune response to that version of the virus, you can always get infected again and again with different versions of the virus.       

All of these qualities make a norovirus outbreak challenging to contain. For example, as I wrote previously for Forbes, norovirus was one source of vomiting and diarrhea at the 2016 Republic National Convention. As of Thursday, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 128 cases of norovirus illness have occurred at the Winter Olympics. So far, the illness has afflicted primarily private-security personnel who have been staying at the Horeb Youth Center, forcing the Winter Olympic organizers to bring in 900 military personnel to provide security for the 20 venues, as Erin Gabriel reported for CNN. Officials have been testing the food and water at the Olympic venues but have not yet found the original source of the outbreak.   

Hwang Dae-heon of South Korea, Charles Hamelin of Canada, Sjinkie Knegt of the Netherlands, and Lim Hyo-jun of South Korea, from left, compete in the men's 1500m short track speed skating final at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the Gangneung Ice Arena. Sergei Bobylev/TASS (Photo by Sergei BobylevTASS via Getty Images)

What do you do then if norovirus is near? Take the following steps:

Wash your stinking hands thoroughly and frequently: You should do this anyway, not just when norovirus is near. Hand sanitizer does not replace washing your hands with soap and water.
Wear gloves when handling anything that may be contaminated: This is a good rule when handling vomit or poop in general, but especially important when norovirus may be involved. But also be careful about areas that are close to vomit or poop.
If possible, properly dispose of anything that may be contaminated: Of course, this applies only to things that you can part with and not objects like cars and toilets. Don't throw away things in a way that others may still come into contact with the items.
Clean and disinfect everything else that may contaminated: Use cleaning materials that are known to be effective against norovirus such as a 1000–5000 ppm chlorine bleach solution. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides a list of products proven effective against norovirus.
Keep anyone who is sick with norovirus away from food or anything else that pass the virus on to others: Yeah, the person sick with norovirus is probably not the person you want cooking the family feast or doing the dishes. As Amy Qin reported for the New York Times, as soon as the outbreak was announced on Tuesday, 1,200 security workers were placed under quarantine. People remain contagious even after their symptoms have resolved: from 3 days to 2 weeks after recovering.

If norovirus were to reach the Olympic Village, the pathogen could really change Olympic results. In many events, seconds or a stumble could mean the difference between a Gold Medal and finishing off the medal podium, let alone vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration. Norovirus-caused vomiting and diarrhea are not like your every day "I drank too much" or "I shouldn't have eaten that Crisco and cheese sandwich left out on the counter for a couple days" vomiting or diarrhea. It can even knock an Olympian out of the competition. So South Korean Olympic officials are trying to make sure that the Olympics don't go viral in the wrong way.

In the Olympic motto, "faster" and "stronger" (as in "faster, higher, stronger") aren't referring to vomiting and diarrhea. But norovirus is an Olympian among gastrointestinal viruses and has been spreading at PyeongChang, South Korea, site of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

As mentioned earlier in Forbes, Aron Hall, DVM, MSPH, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has described norovirus as the "perfect pathogen". In other words, norovirus is the Apollo Anton Ohno of pathogens, with the emphasis on "oh, no." This is because norovirus seems to be designed by nature to be very strong and spread very fast. It's a quite hardy virus that can remain on food, utensils, plates, surfaces, and other objects for days or even weeks and can withstand many standard disinfectants. The virus is also highly contagious. As few as 18 virus particles can cause an infection.

And the virus causes those infected to do exactly what would help spread the virus from both ends: 1 to 3 days of vomiting and diarrhea-ing to the point where you can get quite dehydrated. This vomit and poop are quite infectious as well. Just a gram of poop can have up to 5 billion viruses. (If you don't commonly weigh your poop, the average healthy person poops 450 grams of poo a day. A norovirus infection can significantly increase this number.) Oh, and the virus mutates quite readily, meaning that even if you are infected and build up an immune response to that version of the virus, you can always get infected again and again with different versions of the virus.

All of these qualities make a norovirus outbreak challenging to contain. For example, as I wrote previously for Forbes, norovirus was one source of vomiting and diarrhea at the 2016 Republic National Convention. As of Thursday, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 128 cases of norovirus illness have occurred at the Winter Olympics. So far, the illness has afflicted primarily private-security personnel who have been staying at the Horeb Youth Center, forcing the Winter Olympic organizers to bring in 900 military personnel to provide security for the 20 venues, as Erin Gabriel reported for CNN. Officials have been testing the food and water at the Olympic venues but have not yet found the original source of the outbreak.

What do you do then if norovirus is near? Take the following steps:

Wash your stinking hands thoroughly and frequently: You should do this anyway, not just when norovirus is near. Hand sanitizer does not replace washing your hands with soap and water.
Wear gloves when handling anything that may be contaminated: This is a good rule when handling vomit or poop in general, but especially important when norovirus may be involved. But also be careful about areas that are close to vomit or poop.
If possible, properly dispose of anything that may be contaminated: Of course, this applies only to things that you can part with and not objects like cars and toilets. Don't throw away things in a way that others may still come into contact with the items.
Clean and disinfect everything else that may contaminated: Use cleaning materials that are known to be effective against norovirus such as a 1000–5000 ppm chlorine bleach solution. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides a list of products proven effective against norovirus.
Keep anyone who is sick with norovirus away from food or anything else that pass the virus on to others: Yeah, the person sick with norovirus is probably not the person you want cooking the family feast or doing the dishes. As Amy Qin reported for the New York Times, as soon as the outbreak was announced on Tuesday, 1,200 security workers were placed under quarantine. People remain contagious even after their symptoms have resolved: from 3 days to 2 weeks after recovering.

If norovirus were to reach the Olympic Village, the pathogen could really change Olympic results. In many events, seconds or a stumble could mean the difference between a Gold Medal and finishing off the medal podium, let alone vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration. Norovirus-caused vomiting and diarrhea are not like your every day "I drank too much" or "I shouldn't have eaten that Crisco and cheese sandwich left out on the counter for a couple days" vomiting or diarrhea. It can even knock an Olympian out of the competition. So South Korean Olympic officials are trying to make sure that the Olympics don't go viral in the wrong way.

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