‘Stay at home' warning issued to Brits over ‘incredibly infectious' virus that forced school to shut after outbreak

The Irish Sun

7 days ago

A 'STAY AT HOME' warning has been issued to Brits, after an infectious virus caused a school to shut down.
Three children at a primary school in Hampshire were hospitalised after contracting the virus last week, with the school forced to partially close on Friday.
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Brits suffering from an infectious virus have been urged to stay at home
Credit: Getty
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Three children at a school in Hampshire were hospitalised following an outbreak
Credit: Google
The children - along with four other pupils in the same class, who were not sick enough to go to hospital - had contracted norovirus, an "incredibly infectious virus" that can be spread for
48 hours
after symptoms stop.
Following the outbreak, at Compton All Saints
Church of England
Primary School, near Winchester, the Government has issued a 'stay at home' warning to anyone who has contracted the virus.
The
The 120-pupil school revealed that he UKHSA had advised them to isolate the class with the outbreak from the rest of the school.
However, since this was "logistically impossible", Compton All Saints was forced to close the class.
The school was then subject to a deep clean, as the children broke up from school for the half term break.
Cases of norovirus - which is known as the
winter
vomiting bug - are above average for this time of year.
The last UKHSA report revealed that cases were more than double the five season average, with a total of 14,959 laboratory reports between March 31 and April 27, compared to the average of 6,446.
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What is norovirus?
It spreads very easily between people, and symptoms strike within hours or days of infection.
The virus is spread through being in close contact with someone with the illness, or touching infected surfaces and then touching your mouth.
What are the norovirus symptoms and how long does the winter vomiting bug last?
It can also spread through eating food that has been handled by someone who has norovirus, or drinking unclean water.
When you have norovirus, you shed billions of tiny particles, that can only be seen with a mircoscope.
It takes just a few norovirus particles to make people infected and sick.
Norovirus: Key symptoms + how to protect yourself
The main symptoms or norovirus, according to the NHS, are:
Feeling sick (nausea)
Being sick (vomiting)
You may also have:
A high temperature
A
Aching arms and legs
You can usually treat norovirus at home - the most important thing to do is rest and have lots of fluids to avoid dehydration.
As norovirus is easily spread it's important to do what you can to prevent catching it.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends four things you can do to protect yourself.
Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially:
After using the toilet or changing nappies
Before eating, preparing, or handling food
Before giving yourself or someone else medicine
It's important to be aware hand sanitisers don't always work well against norovirus.
You can use them in addition to hand washing, but it shouldn't be a substitution.
Before preparing and eating your food the CDC recommends the following:
Carefully wash fruits and vegetables well
Cook oysters and other shellfish thoroughly to an internal temperature of at least 63°C
Routinely clean and sanitise kitchen utensils, cutting boards, counters, and surfaces, especially after handling shellfish
Keep raw oysters away from ready-to-eat food in your shopping basket, refrigerator, and on cutting boards
Throw away food that might contain norovirus
Noroviruses are relatively resistant to heat and can survive temperatures as high as 63°C.
Quick steaming processes will not heat foods enough to kill noroviruses.
And be aware food contaminated with norovirus may look, smell, or taste normal.
After someone with norovirus vomits and has diarrhoea you should:
Wear rubber or disposable gloves and wipe the entire area with paper towels and throw them in a plastic trash bag
Disinfect the area as directed on the product label
Leave bleach disinfectant on the affected area for at least five minutes
Clean the entire area again with soap and hot water
Wash laundry, take out the trash, and wash your hands
An expert recently warned norovirus can spread via clothes.
Immediately remove and wash clothes or linens that may have vomit or poo on them.
When you do this:
Wear rubber or disposable gloves
Handle items carefully without shaking them
Wash the items with detergent and hot water at the maximum available cycle length and then machine dry them at the highest heat setting
Wash your hands after with soap and water
Because of this, the bug can spread rapidly through hospitals, making patients, staff and visitors ill.
The
NHS
advise for people who have contracted the virus is:
"Stay off school or work until you have not been sick or had diarrhoea for at least two days.
"
This is when you're most infectious.
"Do not visit hospitals or care
homes
during this time."
Most people start to recover from the virus in two to three days.
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However, in some cases, it can linger for weeks or even months.
Brits are advised to call 111 if vomiting hasn't stopped after two days, or diarrhoea hasn't stopped after seven days.
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There are six main symptoms of norovirus