#190 Noroviruses are Spreading Rapidly - What Dental Teams Need to Know

The CDC states that noroviruses, which can cause severe, but short-term illness are spreading throughout the country.   The Divas discuss signs, symptoms, and methods of lessening the incidence of this very contagious virus.

Resources:

• CDC Norovirus  https://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/index.html
• CDC Norovirus Outbreaks  https://bit.ly/4gA55tP
• NBC News - Why norovirus is so hard to kill:  Here's how to protect yourself from the "perfect pathogen"  https://bit.ly/4gZF7A4

                                                 https://www.thecompliancedivas.com

Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:04

Welcome.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

I'm Leslie Cannon. I'm Mary Gavoni. I'm Linda Harvey. I'm Olivia Juan. And together we are the Compliance Divas. Welcome to the Compliance Divas podcast. I'm Mary Gavoni and I'll be the moderator for this episode. We're going to talk about noroviruses today, kind of a not so fun subject, but given the time of year when people are in social settings and eating and drinking and possibly sharing beverage containers and so forth, we think it's worth talking about something that the CDC is concerned about, the surge of right now. The compliance divas bring clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating the regulatory world to keep you on course. You can subscribe to the Compliance Divas podcast through your favorite podcast channel or on our website, thecompliancedivas.com. Resources that we mentioned during this episode can be found in the show notes on your podcast app. You can submit questions to support at thecompliancedivas.com. So noroviruses are often mistaken for the flu. And Linda and Leslie are going to talk about symptoms and how long you're contagious and so forth. But the thing to know that's very important is that 58% of foodborne illness in the US is actually caused by neuroviruses. And as I said earlier, this is the time of year when, you know, we're celebrating New Year's Eve, we're celebrating New Year's Day, and family and friends and gathering and perhaps tasting each other's beverages could make you sick. So we want to be very, very careful about that. The other thing to remember is that neuroviruses spread through saliva. So there is some potential risk of being exposed to a norovirus in a treatment situation in a dental practice. So we're going to start out with our Diva Leslie. Can you tell us exactly what is a norovirus and how do they spread and what are some symptoms?

SPEAKER_02 2:17

Certainly, Mary. Well, norovirus is a very contagious virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea. Many times it's mistaken for the flu. It's sometimes called the stomach flu or stomach bug, but norovirus is not really even related to the flu. The flu is actually caused by the influenza virus, and norovirus causes acute gastroenteritis and an inflammation of the stomach or of the intestines. So most people with norovirus illness get better within one to three days, but they can still spread that virus for a few days after. It's actually spread because it's very contagious, and it's spread easily and quickly in different ways. It can be spread through contaminated food. For example, a person with norovirus touches food with their bare hands, or food is placed on a counter or a surface that has poop or vomit on it. Hopefully that's not going to be the case in surfaces that we place food on, but that is one way it's transmitted. Tiny droplets of vomit from a person with norovirus spray through the air, and then maybe it lands on food. And then food is grown perhaps with contaminated water, like for example, oysters or fruit or vegetables. And when they're watered with contaminated water. And contaminated water, for that mean that measure, it could be recreational water or drinking water that can get contaminated with norovirus. So at the source, it could be like a septic tank that leaks into a well, or when a person with norovirus vomits or poops in the water, or when water isn't treated properly, for example, not with enough chlorine. So contaminated surfaces and norovirus spreads through sick people and contaminated surfaces when a person with norovirus touches a surface with their bare hands, or they touch food or water or objects that are contaminated with neurovirus that are placed on surfaces. And we already have discussed that, you know, the bodily fluid from someone with neurovirus if that spray travels through the air and lands on a surface. And then a person with neurovirus has diarrhea that may splatter onto surfaces. So that's how we find that it spreads. And it's also interesting to note that there are signs and symptoms of a person who has norovirus that they might experience these symptoms and perhaps understand that it's not stomach flu. A person usually develops symptoms 12 to 48 hours after they're exposed to norovirus. And the most common symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, stomach pain. And then there may also be fever, headache, or body aches. And if someone does have neurovirus, they can feel extremely ill and vomit or have diarrhea many times a day, which leads to something else which can be very problematic is dehydration, which is the loss of body fluids. This is especially problematic in young children or older adults or people with other underlying uh illnesses. Symptoms of dehydration to make note of if you are experiencing these other severe symptoms of vomiting or diarrhea include decreased urination, dry mouth and throat, feeling dizzy when standing up, uh crying with few or no tears, unusual sleepiness or fuzziness.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Mary? Thank you, Leslie. That's a lot of great information. The biggest question we have is if somebody has a neurovirus, how long are they contagious? How, even if they start to feel better, can they still spread the neurovirus? And Linda is going to enlighten us on that.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Mary, just like COVID-19, this is a big question with the norovirus as well. How do we know if we're still contagious? When should we come back to work? But essentially, you're contagious even during the first few days after you feel better, and you're still highly contagious because as Leslie went through the symptoms so nicely, just because some of the symptoms have started to resolve, maybe you have no more diarrhea and you're like, I'm feeling a little better, I can go back to work, but you're still contagious. And the studies have shown that you can still spread the neurovirus for two weeks or more after you feel better. So when to say, should you come back to work? There's no protocol like we had with COVID, but to know that you can come back to work feeling better, but you still may be contagious and someone else may be able to contract the virus from you, especially when you think about some of the ways that Leslie mentioned, with it coming spreading through, you know, touch and food and saliva that you mentioned. You know, we're so work with patients and our coworkers in such close quarters in a dental practice that it could easily be spread. So when you're feeling better, it may it doesn't necessarily mean that you're ready to come back to work. So take it easy, make sure that all the symptoms have resolved. Because this one time, Mary, that we don't want the whole office out for a neurovirus when we can simply try to prevent that. And as you mentioned, here during the holidays, we're going to be around so many people. And some folks may be spreading it and not even if they're contagious at the time. So it's important to realize that even though the symptoms have resolved, you may still be contagious.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Thanks, Linda. And I think that's very, very important to have that understanding. And all the more reason why, again, we should be screening our patients if they've had some not only respiratory symptoms, but if they've had any other symptoms, not been feeling well, then we need to know that because they could be contagious to us through their saliva. So our diva Olivia couldn't be with us today, but she wanted us to share some statistics from the CDC about noroviruses. And the biggest concern is, of course, that it spreads so easily. And you hear stories many times where an entire family gets sick and then they start to feel better, and then they get sick all over again because somebody's preparing food or taking care of others, and it can still be spreading because they're still contagious. But according to the CDC, there are typically 900 deaths per year, primarily from dehydration and usually in older adults, over 100,000 hospitalizations, almost 500,000 emergency department visits, mostly young children, and again, very possibly from dehydration, and over 2 million outpatient clinic visits, again, most in young children. So, again, according to CDC, 19 to 21 million cases of neurovirus per year, and we're seeing a big uptick in those cases at this point. So, Linda, can you give us a little bit of info on again, just as a reminder on how the virus is spread?

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Mary, this virus is highly contagious, as you and Leslie have already stated. So it's very important that we be careful with all of our preventive measures. Hand hygiene is always of utmost importance. And I know there was a lot of controversy over source control masks during the pandemic, but perhaps you would consider a source control mask when you're out in public for a few weeks and protect even in your practice. So just so that we can be cautious not to spread this uh virus even after we are feeling better. So those are some things to think about as far as protecting yourself because we know, like as you mentioned, it's so so contagious and um making sure that we just don't keep it circulating around the office or within our family. And so when you touch something with bare hands, and if you've got a contaminated surface from norovirus, from somebody's coughing, or as Leslie mentioned, you know, spray and mist from other contamination from vomit or diarrhea. So being very careful if you're caring for someone at home who's sick with this, particularly children or a spouse or an elderly family member, to take time to be sure that you're cleaning and disinfecting your home well and then continue to follow good protocols in your practice, Mary. I think those are the top ways that we can help prevent the spread.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Perfect. And we understand that this is not the most pleasant topic to talk about right now, but it is very timely. And since the CDC has a concern that these neuroviruses are spiking right now, more so even than influenza and COVID, we felt that it was important to just do a quick review and remind ourselves how to stay healthy. The Compliance Divas brings clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating the regulatory world to keep you on course. If you have questions, you can submit them via email to support at thecompliancedivas.com. Resources that we mentioned, particularly from the CDC today, will be in the show notes on your favorite podcast app. And we also ask that you scroll down to the end of the episode on your podcast app and leave us a review or give us some feedback. We'd love to hear from you, and we look forward to seeing you in the new year.