25- to 30-nm virus particle associated with a hospital outbreak of acute gastroenteritis with evidence for airborne transmission

LA Sawyer, JJ Murphy, JE Kaplan, PF Pinsky, D Chacon, S Walmsley, LB Schonberger, A Phillips, K Forward and C Goldman.

Division of Viral Diseases, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA 30333.

Between November 1 and 22, 1985, an outbreak of acute, nonbacterial gastroenteritis occurred in a 600-bed hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Illness in 635 of 2,379 (27%) staff was characterized by fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting and had a median duration of 24- 48 hours. The finding of virus-like particles measuring 25-30 nm in six stool specimens and low rates of seroresponse to Norwalk virus (3/39) and Snow Mountain agent (1/6) suggest that a Norwalk-like virus was responsible for the outbreak. The outbreak was of abrupt onset and high incidence, affecting 79 people in a single day. No common food or water exposure could be identified. The attack rate was greatest (69%) for staff who had worked in the Emergency Room. Of 100 patients and their companions who visited the Emergency Room on November 11-12 for unrelated problems, 33 (33%) developed gastroenteritis 24-48 hours after their visit, versus 0 of 18 who visited the Emergency Room on November 8 (p less than 0.001). An analysis of housekeepers who worked at least once during the period from November 9-13, which included those who became ill during the period of November 9-14, showed that the risk of becoming ill was four times greater for those who visited or walked through the Emergency Room than for those who did not (p = 0.028). These data are consistent with the possibility of the airborne spread of a virus.

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