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Anyone who has been laid low by a norovirus, or what we typically call stomach flu, can relate to the misery it inflicts. And succumbing to it inevitably raises questions of, “Why me?” or, “I just had something similar a year ago. How could it have gotten me again so soon? Why wasn’t I immune?”
A team of Carolina researchers may have figured out the answer.
Lisa Lindesmith and Eric Donaldson, working in the lab of Ralph Baric, professor of epidemiology, discovered that the norovirus mutates, not unlike the influenza virus. If scientists come up with a norovirus vaccine, Lindesmith said, they will have to keep track of how the virus is changing and reformulate the vaccine frequently, just as they do for influenza.
Soon, we may line up every fall to get a stomach bug vaccination.
The researchers analyzed about 20 years’ worth of GII.4 norovirus strains — the kind that are usually associated with epidemics. They found that the virus evolved in fits and starts, often because of a minor genetic mutation. Those mutations eventually lead to new strains of the virus. New strains can quickly cause epidemics because people have had no exposure to them before.
There is no treatment for a norovirus infection. People can only ride it out and try not to get too dehydrated.
Noroviruses often cause epidemic outbreaks in closed or partially closed environments such as cruise ships, hospitals and assisted living facilities. They spread quickly, typically through person-to-person contact. Although they are rarely fatal, they sometimes cause death in elderly people and in infants.
“Noroviruses are very contagious,” Lindesmith said. People can be infected by as few as one or two viral particles, she said.
“Good hand washing is critical when the virus is present. A vaccine may someday have an important role, too, especially among the elderly and other people particularly vulnerable to the effects of the illness.”
Lindesmith’s study was published in the Feb. 12 edition of the online medical journal PLoS Medicine. It was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
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Editor: Neil Caudle
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