Source Of Norovirus Outbreak Traced To Reusable Grocery Bag

Oregon investigators recently mapped the trail of an outbreak of a nasty stomach bug among participants in a girls’ soccer tournament to a reusable open top grocery bag stored in a hotel bathroom. Their findings, which illustrate the role that inanimate objects can play in spreading norovirus infection, appear in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Noroviruses are a leading cause of gastroenteritis worldwide and the most common cause of foodborne outbreaks in the United States. Highly contagious, even in low concentrations, the viruses spread efficiently from feces and vomit by direct contact or by indirect transmission from viral contamination of surfaces. In October 2010, a cluster of gastroenteritis that appeared in a group of people with no apparent direct physical contact with a pathogen challenged investigators to find the cause and take appropriate control measures.