Montgomery Cases Are Early, Experts Say

Montgomery County health officials issued a warning yesterday about earlier-than-usual outbreaks of the highly contagious norovirus, which has affected about 75 people since mid-November.

Symptoms of the intestinal virus include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, low-grade fever, chills, headache, muscle aches and fatigue.

Mary Anderson, a spokeswoman for the county's Department of Health and Human Services, said sick patients have been reported at two nursing homes and one business luncheon. A group of six to seven Montgomery residents also became sick after returning home from the same wedding in Florida, where they are believed to have been infected, Anderson said.

She said the health department typically doesn't release the exact locations of outbreaks because of confidentiality rules. However, she said, visitors to the Wilson Health Care Center at Asbury Methodist Village, a Gaithersburg retirement community, notified a local newspaper around Thanksgiving that they had seen signs posted about a norovirus outbreak there.

Health officials issued an alert to remind residents about disease-preventing hygiene practices, particularly hand-washing, because the dozen or so outbreaks reported in Montgomery each year typically don't hit until late December or January, Anderson said.

She said health officials haven't determined why outbreaks -- a term used for more than three people who become sick in the same place -- have started earlier this year. The symptoms often are confused with what's commonly known as "stomach flu," Anderson said, though influenza is more of a respiratory illness, with coughing and fever.

The virus spreads by air when people vomit or via contaminated hands that aren't properly washed after using bathrooms or changing diapers, health officials said. Though people may feel sick after one or two days, they can continue to spread the virus for as long as a week. It also can live on surfaces for many days, health officials said.

Though symptoms can be severe, the illness usually isn't serious in healthy people, officials said. Most at risk are the frail elderly and young children because of their greater risk of dehydration. The treatment is typically rest and fluid replacement.