Society

Norovirus infects 429 people in Guangzhou

By Zhang Jiawei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-12-17 10:38

The Guangdong Provincial Health Department said it has confirmed 429 cases of norovirus infection in the November outbreak in Conghua of Guangzhou, but no one died from it, the Guangzhou Daily reported Friday.

Water contamination was to blame for the norovirus outbreak, said He Jianfeng, director of the institute for epidemic disease control under the Guangdong Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

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The virus, also known as stomach flu, affects people of all ages and is transmitted by fecal contamination in food or water, by person-to-person contact, or dispersed through air and subsequent contamination of surfaces.

He said people will fall ill 10 hours to several days after being infected.

Wang Ming, director of Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told Guangzhou-based Xinkuai Newspaper that the 429 infected are all farmers who have bad water sanitation.

The official stressed that all of the infected recovered before the Guangzhou Asian Games opened on Nov 12, with most of them recovering in one or two days.

Experts also warned people not to eat uncooked seafood, which may be another cause of a norovirus outbreak.