Download GVN-Norovirus-Statement-04-07-2015

801 W Baltimore Street | Baltimore, MD 21201-1193 | 410.706.1966
www.gvn.org
GVN Statement on World Health Day 2015
As we mark World Health Day
today and turn our focus to food safety,
the Global Virus Network, a coalition
of the world’s leading medical
virologists working together to prevent
illness and death from viral disease,
highlights the impact of viral causes of
food-borne illness: norovirus, hepatitis
A virus, hepatitis E virus, and rotavirus.
Everyone is susceptible to these
viruses and taken together, they infect
millions of people each year and are
responsible for more than half a
million deaths worldwide.
GVN Norovirus Experts:



Cristiane Wobus, PhD. GVN Affiliate and
Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology
and Immunology, University of Michigan Medical
School
John Treanor, MD. GVN Center of Excellence
Director and Chief of the Department of
Medicine, Infectious Diseases, University of
Rochester Medical Center
Heinz Ellerbrok, PhD. Deputy Head, Center for
Biological Safety, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin,
Germany
Norovirus is most common cause of food-borne illness around the world. More
commonly known as food poisoning, the stomach bug, or the stomach flu, norovirus causes
between 19 and 21 million infections annually in the US alone, and is responsible for up to
200,000 child deaths in globally. Nearly everyone experiences a norovirus infection at some
point in his or her life. In those whose immune systems are weakened due to chronic
conditions, such as HIV, or from chemotherapy, norovirus infections can be devastating.
There are no vaccines to prevent the disease and no drugs to treat it. Researchers—including
GVN Board of Directors member Dr. Raymond Schinazi at Emory University—are actively
working to identify or develop both, with several compounds and vaccine candidates showing
promise in early studies.
Noroviruses are extremely contagious. They spread through direct contact with an
infected person, or through contact with contaminated food, water, objects or surfaces.
While symptoms generally start 12-48 hours after infection, a person can be contagious before
symptoms begin and for days after symptoms resolve. The viruses can survive in water and on
food, clothing, and surfaces for long periods. Noroviruses are also relatively resistant,
meaning that it can be difficult to fully decontaminate surfaces or food. Because of these
factors, noroviruses spread quickly and easily wherever people are in close contact, and
outbreaks often occur in settings such as schools, hospitals, workplaces, restaurants, cruise
ships, and airplanes.
There are many different strains of human noroviruses and although people can
develop immunity to individual strains they have been exposed to, this immunity does not
protect against infection from other strains. As single stranded, non-enveloped RNA viruses,
noroviruses tend to mutate rapidly, which contributes to the continual emergence of new
strains.
GGlobal Virus Network researchers are at the forefront of efforts to better understand
noroviruses and develop drugs and vaccines to combat them. GVN Board of Directors
member Dr. Raymond Schinazi of Emory University and his colleagues have identified
compounds with antiviral activity. And, work on mice noroviruses by researchers in Dr.
Christiane Wobus’ lab at the GVN Center of Excellence at the University of Michigan
Page 1 of 2
Page 2 – GVN World Health Day 2015 Statement
contributed to the development of a new way to grow human noroviruses in the
laboratory by researchers in Dr. Stephanie Karst's lab at the University of Florida. The
new approach uses immune cells to grow the virus and depends on the presence of a
particular bacterium, Enterobacter cloacae. As Dr. Wobus explains, this advance in
developing a cell culture system, combined with recent advances in the development of a
small animal model of human norovirus, “is an important step in overcoming the technical
hurdles that have hampered the field and open the way to one day develop effective
strategies that limit norovirus infections.”
References:








Jones MK, Watanabe M, Zhu S, Graves CL, Keyes LR, Grau KR, Gonzalez-Hernandez MB, et
al. Enteric bacteria promote human and mouse norovirus infection of B cells. Science.
2014; 346(6210), 755-759.
Ahmed SM, Hall AJ, Robinson AE, Verhoef L, Premkumar P, Parashar UD, et al. Global
prevalence of norovirus in cases of gastroenteritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 2014;14(8):725-30.
MM Patel, MA Widdowson, RI Glass, K Akazawa, J Vinjé, UD Parashar. Systematic literature
review of role of noroviruses in sporadic gastroenteritis. Emerging Infectious Diseases,
2008; 14: 1224–1231
Costantini VP, Whitaker T, Barclay L, Lee D, McBrayer TR, Schinazi RF, and Vinjé J.
Antiviral activity of nucleoside analogues against norovirus. Antiviral therapy. 2012; 17(6),
981.
Glass RI, Parashar UD, and Estes MK. Norovirus gastroenteritis. New England Journal of
Medicine. 2009; 361(18), 1776-1785.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Viral Diseases. Updated norovirus
outbreak management and disease prevention guidelines. MMWR. 60, no. RR-3 (2011): 1.
Robinson CM, and Pfeiffer JK. Leaping the norovirus hurdle. Science. 2014; 346(6210),
700-701.
United States Food and Drug Administration. The Bad Bug Book (Second Edition). 2012.
Available at:
http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/CausesOfIllnessBadBugBook
Web Resources:



WHO World Health Day 2015 Page: http://www.who.int/campaigns/world-healthday/2015/event/en/
WHO Food Safety Fact Sheet: http://who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs399/en/
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Norovirus page:
http://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/index.html
Page 2 of 2