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CDC Vital Signs Report

Vital SignsPreventing Norovirus Outbreaks, Food Service has a Key Role
Norovirus is the leading cause of disease outbreaks from contaminated food in the United States. Learn about food safety practices that can help prevent these outbreaks.

Norovirus accounted for 48% of single known causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in the U.S. from 2009 through 2012. Bacteria accounted for 46%, chemical and toxins 6% and parasites and other accounted for 1% each.
How contagious is norovirus?

Norovirus is a very contagious virus that can infect anyone. You can get it from an infected person, contaminated food or water, or by touching contaminated surfaces. The virus causes your stomach or intestines or both to get inflamed. This leads you to have stomach pain, nausea, and diarrhea and to throw up. These symptoms can be serious for some people, especially young children and older adults...

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CDC Norovirus Disease Widget.
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Norovirus Outbreaks

Norovirus outbreaks occur throughout the year. But, over 80% of the outbreaks occur from November to April. In this data & statistics feature, learn about Surveillance for Norovirus Outbreaks.

Review other norovirus multimedia tools.

Symptoms

The most common symptoms are:

Woman with a stomachache
  • diarrhea
  • throwing up
  • nausea
  • stomach pain

Other symptoms include:

  • fever
  • headache
  • body aches

You can get dehydrated if you are not able to drink enough liquids. You may urinate less, have a dry mouth and throat, and feel dizzy.

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Hands Off Norovirus

Podcast

CDC Featured Podcast

Dr. Aron Hall discusses how food handlers can prevent the spread of norovirus with HealthBeat’s Ira Dreyfuss.

Listen To This Podcast (1:00)

Many Names, Same Symptoms

You may hear norovirus illness called "food poisoning" or "stomach flu." It is true that food poisoning can be caused by noroviruses. But, other germs and chemicals can also cause food poisoning.

Norovirus illness is not related to the flu, which is a respiratory illness caused by influenza virus.

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