A summertime peak of "winter vomiting disease": Surveillance of noroviruses in England and Wales, 1995 to 2002

Lopman, Ben A., Reacher, Mark, Gallimore, Chris, Adak, Goutam K., Gray, Jim J. and Brown, David W. G. (2003) A summertime peak of "winter vomiting disease": Surveillance of noroviruses in England and Wales, 1995 to 2002. BMC Public Health, 3 (13). ISSN 1471-2458

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Abstract

Background: Noroviruses are the most common cause of gastroenteritis outbreaks in industrialised countries. Gastroenteritis caused by Norovirus infection has been described as a highly seasonal syndrome, often referred to as "winter vomiting disease". Methods: The Public Health Laboratory Service Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre has systematically collected reports of laboratory confirmed cases of Norovirus-gastroenteritis since 1995. We analysed these data for annual and seasonal trends and age distribution. Results: A mid-summer peak in reported cases of Norovirus was observed in 2002, unlike all six previous years when there was a marked summer decline. Total reports from 2002 have also been higher than all previous years. From the first 10 months of 2002, a total of 3029 Norovirus diagnoses were reported compared the previous peak in 1996 of 2437 diagnoses for the whole 12-month period. The increase in 2002 was most marked in the 65 and older age group. Conclusion: This surveillance data challenges the view that Noroviruses infections exclusively have wintertime seasonality.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Depositing User: Rhiannon Harvey
Date Deposited: 19 May 2011 10:55
Last Modified: 24 Oct 2022 02:51
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/31020
DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-3-13

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