Norovirus
BIO 140 – Norovirus
Whenever I started my job working as a certified nursing assistant at a nursing home I had become familiar with the Norovirus. Little did I know I had been infected with it before but I was given a different name from what I was sick from. The Norovirus also named NoV is the leading cause of illness from contaminated food or water in the U.S. If you are not familiar with the name Norovirus you may of heard of many of its other names it referred as. These names include viral gastroenteritis, food poisoning, winter vomiting disease, stomach flu among other names. When I was first diagnosed with the doctor told me I had viral gastroenteritis. The history of the Norovirus and how it got is name is very interesting. In 1968 in Norwalk, Ohio there was an outbreak of sickness after investigation and research it was found to be caused by this virus. The virus was then named the Norwalk virus or agent. It was first classified as a small round virus. Then later after genetic studies in 1990 the molecular cloning of the Norwalk virus genome led to the classification of this virus into the family Caliciviridae, then its name was eventually changed to the Norovirus. There are 5 geno groups of this virus and they are GI,GII,GIII,GIV, and GV which is determined by the RNA sequence of the virus. Only genotypes GI, GII, and GIV can infect a human being. The two remaining types infect other animals such as cattle, swine, and mice. A person can be infected by NoV by not only ingesting contaminated water and food, but the virus can also spread from person to person especially in large groups. This transmission from person to person can happen in close quarters such as schools, dormatories, nursing homes, hospitals, day care centers, cruise ships, and etc. Norovirus illness has been epidemiologically linked into three distant classes in terms in the route of entry. It can be associated with cases of the consumption of ready to eat
Whenever I started my job working as a certified nursing assistant at a nursing home I had become familiar with the Norovirus. Little did I know I had been infected with it before but I was given a different name from what I was sick from. The Norovirus also named NoV is the leading cause of illness from contaminated food or water in the U.S. If you are not familiar with the name Norovirus you may of heard of many of its other names it referred as. These names include viral gastroenteritis, food poisoning, winter vomiting disease, stomach flu among other names. When I was first diagnosed with the doctor told me I had viral gastroenteritis. The history of the Norovirus and how it got is name is very interesting. In 1968 in Norwalk, Ohio there was an outbreak of sickness after investigation and research it was found to be caused by this virus. The virus was then named the Norwalk virus or agent. It was first classified as a small round virus. Then later after genetic studies in 1990 the molecular cloning of the Norwalk virus genome led to the classification of this virus into the family Caliciviridae, then its name was eventually changed to the Norovirus. There are 5 geno groups of this virus and they are GI,GII,GIII,GIV, and GV which is determined by the RNA sequence of the virus. Only genotypes GI, GII, and GIV can infect a human being. The two remaining types infect other animals such as cattle, swine, and mice. A person can be infected by NoV by not only ingesting contaminated water and food, but the virus can also spread from person to person especially in large groups. This transmission from person to person can happen in close quarters such as schools, dormatories, nursing homes, hospitals, day care centers, cruise ships, and etc. Norovirus illness has been epidemiologically linked into three distant classes in terms in the route of entry. It can be associated with cases of the consumption of ready to eat