Florida is second in nation for Norovirus outbreaks

By Madison Kasper •

Outbreaks of norovirus, a gastrointestinal illness, traditionally occur between December and March. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are about 2,500 reported norovirus outbreaks annually in the U.S. As of December 2024, Florida ranked second in the nation for norovirus cases, with 24 confirmed outbreaks, according to the CDC. As part of Mako Media’s Health Update, Aarti Raja, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, shared how students can protect themselves.

Q. What is norovirus?

A. Norovirus is a highly contagious virus that infects the gastrointestinal tract of human beings.

Q. What are the symptoms of this virus?

A: The basic symptoms, because it’s a gastrointestinal virus, are things like diarrhea, vomiting and nausea. Along with that, the usual problems that viruses cause, such as sometimes fever and headache.

Q. How does it differ from coronavirus?

A: The two viruses are very different. Coronavirus infects the respiratory tract of human beings. Norovirus infects the gastrointestinal tract. They are also spread differently because they are infecting different regions of the body. Coronavirus is spread when people sneeze or cough or sometimes even talk. Norovirus, because it infects the gastrointestinal tract, spreads through fecal matter.

Q: How can you prevent the spread of this disease?

A: The best way to prevent the spread of norovirus is just to keep things clean. So, wash your hands very well. If you’re eating food make sure to wash your fruit and cook your food. All these things will ensure that we don’t move the virus around from one person to the other.

Q: What are treatments for coronavirus and norovirus?

A: For norovirus, there is no treatment. The only thing you can really do is keep a hygienic environment. Wash everything well, including your hands. For coronavirus, we don’t necessarily have a lot of treatments but the big advantage or difference between the two is that there are vaccines available for coronavirus. We can protect ourselves by utilizing those vaccines. But for noroviruses we don’t have any such option.

Q: What should students do if they get norovirus?

A: There are limited things you can do. The good thing is that for an average healthy individual if you get norovirus, you will be better in about two to three days. It may take you up to a week or 10 days to get better with coronavirus but with norovirus you can get better in one or two days. All you can do is get rest and another big plus is drink lots of fluids, drink lots of water to basically flush the system and get rid of the microorganism that way.

Q: Any last thoughts?

A: The basic things— again, keeping your environment clean and washing your hands. Keep that practice going and you will be safe and able to avoid the virus