Open AccessNorwalk-like gastroenteritis epidemic in a Toronto hospital.
Author(s) -
W. D. Leers,
George J. Kasupski,
Richard A. Fralick,
S Wartman,
José Luis Merino García,
William G. Gary
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.77.3.291
Subject(s) - norwalk virus , feces , diarrhea , outbreak , incubation period , medicine , virology , virus , acute gastroenteritis , abdominal pain , epidemiology , pediatrics , norovirus , microbiology and biotechnology , incubation , biology , biochemistry
An epidemic of gastroenteritis in a teaching hospital affected 57 patients and 69 staff over a 26-day period. The index case was a patient admitted with acute abdominal pain and diarrhea two days prior to the outbreak. The epidemic curve indicated person-to-person transmission. The incubation period, duration and types of symptoms were typical of Norwalk gastroenteritis, and Norwalk-like virus particles, serologically different from the prototype Norwalk virus strain, were observed in 17 of 20 fecal specimens examined by immune-electron microscopy.