NYT The virus, sometimes called the stomach bug, is incredibly contagious. Here’s how to stay safe this season. Every year, there’s a surge in norovirus cases between November and April, and this holiday season is no different.
Sometimes known as the stomach bug, norovirus is incredibly contagious, infecting about one in 15 people in the United States annually.
Norovirus is also notorious for infecting people year after year, since the body doesn’t develop long-lasting immunity, said Dr. Sharon Nachman, the chief of pediatric infectious disease at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital on Long Island. A new norovirus strain also took hold in the United States last year and has continued to circulate, leaving more people vulnerable than usual.
As influenza and respiratory syncytial virus also swirl around this winter, keep your guard up so that you don’t have to deal with back-to-back infections.