Personal Injury Law

4,000 In Turkey Recovering From Norovirus Outbreak

By Marler Clark LLP

Four thousand diarrhea cases in the central Anatolian city of Aksaray in Turkey will probably get the award for this season's largest outbreak of Norovirus. 

"A rash of diarrhea cases first appeared in the province on May 13, and health experts determined that the outbreak stemmed from contaminated water," Today's Zaman, a Turkish news publication, reports.

It went on to say:

Turan Buzgan, a deputy undersecretary at the Health Ministry, said the ministry was investigating whether there was norovirus in the samples taken from the city's water system.

Noroviruses are transmitted by fecally contaminated food or water and by person-to-person contact and causes approximately 90 percent of epidemic non-bacterial outbreaks of gastroenteritis around the world. "The results of our studies rely on scientific data. They are based on epidemiological studies and laboratory analysis. Since what the Health Ministry says is based on scientific evidence, it is not right to say the opposite," said Buzgan.

He also stated that the ministry had been closely monitoring the diarrhea cases in the city since they broke out and sent an expert health team to the region.

Look here for the rest of Today's Zaman story.

Full post as published by Norovirus Blog on May 22, 2008 (boomark / email).