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In the last few months, schools all over the country have closed because of outbreaks of norovirus. Also known as stomach flu, norovirus infections cause watery diarrhea, low-grade fever and, most alarming of all, projectile vomiting, which is an extremely effective way of spreading the virus.
Norovirus is very infectious and spreads rapidly through a confined population, such as at a school or on a cruise ship. Although most sufferers recover in 24 to 48 hours, norovirus is a leading cause of childhood illness and, in developing countries, results in about 50,000 child deaths each year.
Interestingly, not everyone is equally vulnerable to the virus, and whether you get sick or not may depend on your blood type.
[...] The naked capsid coat is one factor that makes norovirus so difficult to control. Viruses with membrane coatings are susceptible to alcohol and detergents, but not so norovirus. Norovirus can survive temperatures from freezing to 145 degrees Fahrenheit (about the maximum water temperature in a home dishwasher), soap and mild solutions of bleach. Norovirus can persist on human hands for hours and on solid surfaces and food for days and is also resistant to alcohol-based hand sanitizers.
To make things worse, only a tiny dose of the virus – as few as 10 viral particles – is needed to cause disease. Given that an infected person can excrete many billions of viral particles, it's very difficult to prevent the virus from spreading.
[...] If a group of people is exposed to a strain of norovirus, who gets sick will depend on each person's blood type. But, if the same group of people is exposed to a different strain of norovirus, different people may be resistant or susceptible. In general, those who do not make the H1-antigen and people with B blood type will tend to be resistant, whereas people with A, AB, or O blood types will tend [to] get sick, but the pattern will depend on the specific strain of norovirus.
This difference in susceptibility has an interesting consequence. When an outbreak occurs, for example, on a cruise ship, roughly a third of the people may escape infection. Because they do not know the underlying reason for their resistance, I think spared people engage in magical thinking – for example, "I didn't get sick because I drank a lot of grape juice." Of course, these mythical evasive techniques will not work if the next outbreak is a strain to which the individual is susceptible.
A norovirus infection provokes a robust immune response that eliminates the virus in a few days. However, the response appears to be short-lived. Most studies have found that immunity guarding against reinfection with the same norovirus strain lasts less than six months. Also, infection with one strain of norovirus offers little protection against infection from another. Thus, you can have repeated bouts with norovirus.
The diversity of norovirus strains and the impermanence of the immune response complicates development of an effective vaccine. Currently, clinical trials are testing the effects of vaccines made from the capsid proteins of the two most prevalent norovirus strains.
In general, these experimental vaccines produce good immune responses; the longevity of the immune response is now under study. The next phase of clinical trials will test if the vaccines actually prevent or reduce the symptoms of norovirus infection.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Sunday January 12 2020, @02:34PM (3 children)
Magical thinking? I know people who are too quick to make links, infer causal connections, where there is really only coincidence. I don't even try to argue with them any more, at least, not from a negative side. I might try throwing a different hypothetical connection at them, one that is more plausible, if I can think of one.
One thing I've heard that sounds like total pseudo-scientific trash is the idea that people of different blood types do best on different diets. For instance, people with blood type A should go vegetarian.
However, I am convinced that going on a cruise is taking a high chance of getting sick. Just can't keep a few thousand people in such close proximity for weeks and not court disease. All the worse that a lot of those people might have weak immune systems because of old age. Perhaps the military gets away with it more, because soldiers are young and fit. But then, the WWI flu epidemic is one warning that the young aren't totally immune either.
(Score: 2) by NickM on Sunday January 12 2020, @04:20PM
I also though about pseudoscience but I have read the article behind that article: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/11/3/226 [mdpi.com] and the work seems plausible. That being said it's not like you can act on that knowledge as some novovirus strains have affinity with the other blood types and it's not like you could guess the prevalent strain on a cruiseship or a mall food court.
The only actionable bit of knowledge in the tfa is to avoid cruiseship but I am pretty sure that soylentnews is not frequented by people's who goes on those ships.
I a master of typographic, grammatical and miscellaneous errors !
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 12 2020, @07:01PM
The meme pushed by the cruise line industry is horseshit, that passengers get sick on a cruise line due to their lack of sanitation and the Norovirus. It conveniently covers up cruise line problems with inadequate temperature control and kitchen staff sanitation. The passengers hardly have physical contact with other people except with staff via food and drinks.
If you report food poisoning on a cruise ship, you will be processed and punished as another incidence of their preferred statistic. Stomach meds are unavailable onboard. If you go on a cruise, bring your own and treat yourself. If you have diarrhea, make sure to clean the toilet well, because otherwise your steward will report you. Hide the meds too. See an onshore doctor if you need - he won't be under orders from the cruise line bosses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 12 2020, @11:07PM
The Spanish flu was bad because were malnourishment due to war weakened everyones immune system and the patent on aspirin had just expired so doctors were "soaking" their patients in it, leading to salicylate poisoning (which has the symptoms of the flu). It was common to give doses at the time that would get the doctor sent to jail today.
https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/news/otago045234.html [otago.ac.nz]
https://academic.oup.com/cid/issue/49/9 [oup.com]