Cases of the “vomiting virus” reported at an event in Stuttgart, Germany, have increased to 815, and transmission of the “Norovirus” is now presumed to have occurred through the air and not through food. The BBC website reports this, citing official German sources.
As already announced in recent days, the outbreak was identified last weekend in a tent of the Spring Festival which, which began on Saturday, takes place annually in the capital of Baden-Wuerttemberg (south-west of the country).
Stuttgart officials believe the outbreak is not linked to the food or drinks served in the tent as the samples taken all tested negative. The city’s Health Department also tested the staff who worked at the facility, as well as the dishes and water used to wash them.
Instead, norovirus is presumed to have been transmitted from person to person, perhaps through the air. Visitors quickly complained of vomiting, nausea and diarrhea.
Discovered in 1972, noroviruses “represent one of the most widespread agents of acute gastroenteritis of non-bacterial origin”, recalls the website of the Italian Higher Institute of Health (ISS). “The symptoms are those common to gastroenteritis, namely nausea, vomiting, especially in children, watery diarrhea, abdominal cramps. In some cases a slight fever also occurs. The disease usually has no serious consequences, and most people recover in 1-2 days without complications”.
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