Norovirus is far more common than most people realize. With millions of people coming down with the disease every year, it is easily contagious and difficult to clean up after. Even just one person with the norovirus can infect countless others.
What is Norovirus?
The norovirus virus causes your stomach or intestines or both to get inflamed (acute gastroenteritis). This leads you to have stomach pain, nausea, and diarrhea and to throw up. Often mistaken for the flu, norovirus is a different illness. Unlike the flu, which affects the respiratory system, norovirus affects the stomach. In addition to aches, fever, and headaches which can appear in some cases, symptoms include:
- diarrhea
- vomiting
- nausea
- stomach pain
Extremely contagious and not treatable, symptoms suddenly appear 12-48 hours after a person has been exposed. These symptoms usually last for 24-72 hours. Due to the vomiting and diarrhea, the greatest threat of norovirus is dehydration. So, if someone who has come down with the disease needs to drink a lot of liquids and get plenty of rest. Unlike the flu, there is no vaccine and so prevention is the best form of defense.
How Do I Prevent the Norovirus?
Norovirus is a virus easily spread via infected persons touching various surfaces. The virus can last for days ready to infect another person. Found in fecal matter and vomit, the norovirus is best prevented through thoroughly washing your hands after using the restroom, before and after preparing food, regularly disinfecting surfaces, and washing infected clothes and linens in the hottest water. Be particularly careful in public places such as schools, break rooms, public restrooms, and medical facilities. If you have the norovirus, stay away from other people. Do not prepare food until two days after your symptoms have disappeared. Do not rely on hand sanitizer to protect you from it either – alcohol is ineffectual in killing it.
Cleaning Up the Norovirus
The norovirus is a hardy one and can survive both hot and cold temperatures and in water and hard surfaces. If you are dealing with Norovirus in your home, school, or business, the best way to prevent another person from coming down with the disease is to make sure all surfaces the infected person has touched are thoroughly and professionally cleaned, decontaminated, and sanitized.
Do not attempt to clean the area yourself, especially if multiple people have already come down with the disease. Norovirus is so contagious that even the smallest area missed can infect numerous people. Many regular household cleaners are ineffectual against the virus and proper solutions must be used and applied correctly in order to fully eradicate the disease.
Noroviruses on Cruise Ships
People often associate cruise ships with acute gastrointestinal illnesses such as norovirus, but acute gastrointestinal illness is relatively infrequent on cruise ships. Health officials track illness on cruise ships, so the outbreaks are reported more quickly on a cruise ship than on land. While sometimes the norovirus is called the cruise ship virus, it really be found anywhere, not just on a cruise ship.
Call Georgia Clean for Thorough Norovirus Cleanup
By hiring professionals, you can be 100% sure the job has been done correctly. Not only do we have industrial grade cleaners we know work against the norovirus, but we also use professional equipment which is able to quickly cover large areas including all those little nooks and crannies you may have missed. When it comes to the health and safety of your employees, students, and family, you want to make sure the threat is fully removed.
Georgia Clean is available 24/7 and we arrive in a plain, discreet van in order to protect your privacy and reputation. With attentiveness and professionalism, we’ll thoroughly clean the entire area, following all local and federal rules and regulations, so you have peace of mind.
