The following are among the many recommendations regarding norovirus outbreaks in healthcare settings from the CDC:
In the absence of clinical laboratory diagnostics or in the case of delay in obtaining laboratory results, use the Kaplan clinical and epidemiologic criteria to identify a norovirus outbreak. Further research is needed to compare the Kaplan criteria with other early detection criteria for norovirus outbreaks in healthcare settings and to determine whether additional clinical or epidemiologic criteria can be applied to detect norovirus clusters or outbreaks in healthcare settings.
During outbreaks, patients with norovirus should be placed on contact precautions for a minimum of 48 hours after resolution of symptoms to prevent further exposure of susceptible patients.
Ethanol-based hand sanitizers (60%-95%) are preferred to other alcohol- or non–alcohol-based hand sanitizer products during outbreaks of norovirus.
Routine collecting and processing of environmental swabs during a norovirus outbreak is not required. When supported by epidemiologic evidence, environmental sampling can be considered useful to confirm specific sources of contamination during investigations.
Read more about the workup of norovirus.
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Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: Michael Stuart Bronze. Fast Five Quiz: Norovirus - Medscape - Sep 22, 2020.
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