Researchers maintain they now have knowledge of how the highly contagious norovirus gets started.
Work of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis scientists published in Science showed in mice the virus infects a rare tuft cell – referencing while tuft cells are few in number, the findings indicate once the virus strikes the cells multiply the virus quickly and set off severe infections.
Investigators said treating the mice with a broad-spectrum antibiotic cocktail decreased the number of tuft cells and the risk of norovirus infection but acknowledged the antibiotics used in the study would not be practical to give to patients because they would deplete gut microbes that keep the body healthy.
“Norovirus is one of the deadliest human pathogens that we know the least about,” Dr. Craig B. Wilen, the study’s first author and an instructor in pathology and immunology, said. “Of the viruses worldwide for which there are no antiviral drugs or vaccines, norovirus arguably kills the most people. This study provides a therapeutic avenue to explore.”
Officials said norovirus, which causes severe vomiting and diarrhea that can develop suddenly, is shed in feces and vomit and spreads through people-to-people contact, by touching contaminated surfaces and then the mouth, or eating food contaminated with the virus.