Norovirus infection secondary prevention
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Secondary Prevention
CDC currently does not conduct active surveillance to monitor outbreaks of gastroenteritis caused by noroviruses. Outbreaks are reported to CDC's Viral Gastroenteritis Section, Respiratory and Gastroenteric Viruses Branch, Division of Viral Diseases, National Center for Immunization and Respiratoiry Diseases (NCIRD) when states send specimens for testing or sequencing, or outbreaks are reported directly by states to the electronic database (eFORS) maintained by the Foodborne Diarrheal Diseases Branch.
Reporting
Currently, state, local, and territorial health departments are not required to report individual cases of norovirus illness to a national surveillance system. They may not know about such cases because most hospitals and doctor’s offices do not have capability to test for norovirus. The virus is usually diagnosed only when an outbreak happens.
Health care providers should report all outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis, including suspected outbreaks of norovirus, to the appropriate state, local or territorial health department.
Definition of a Norovirus Outbreak
An outbreak of norovirus is defined as an occurrence of two or more similar illnesses resulting from a common exposure.
Health departments are encouraged to report all suspected and confirmed norovirus outbreaks through the National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) and CaliciNet.
Surveillance Systems
NORS
NORS was launched by CDC in 2009 to collect information on outbreaks of foodborne, waterborne, and enteric disease that spread from person-to-person, animals, environmental surfaces, and other or unknown ways. Public health agencies can report all outbreaks of gastroenteritis, including norovirus illness, through this web-based system. This information is used to determine where norovirus outbreaks commonly occur, how the virus is spread, and specific food or water sources involved. In turn, this helps with identifying the best ways to prevent and control norovirus illness and outbreaks.
CaliciNet
CDC developed CaliciNet in 2009. It is a network of public health and food regulatory laboratories that submit norovirus sequences identified from outbreaks into a national database. The information is used to link norovirus outbreaks that may be caused by common sources (such as food), monitor trends, and identify emerging norovirus strains. As of February 2012, public health laboratories in 25 states have been certified by the CDC to participate in CaliciNet. States that are not yet certified may contribute through designated CaliciNet outbreak support centers, including the CDC.
Other Surveillance Systems
CDC is using New Vaccine Surveillance Network (NVSN) and Fooborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) to do norovirus testing on patients with gastroenteritis. This will help generate new estimates of norovirus illness and monitor trends over time.