BRIEFLY.Byline: The Register-Guard Virus blamed for illness at senior complex A stomach bug has sickened about 14 residents of Ya-Po-Ah Terrace, including eight who had to be hospitalized, the building's administrator said Thursday. About one person a day has been getting sick in the 221-unit senior-living complex over the past two weeks, administrator Randy Pederson said. Lab tests have not been completed, but "we think it's norovirus," said Laura Burns Laura Burns aka Kerry Shepard was a fictional character on the long-running Channel 4 British television soap opera Hollyoaks. She was played by actress Lesley Johnston between 2000-2002. , an environmental health specialist with Lane County Public Health. Noroviruses are a group of viruses that cause what's commonly referred to as stomach flu or gastroenteritis gastroenteritis: see enteritis. gastroenteritis Acute infectious syndrome of the stomach lining and intestines. Symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps. , with symptoms that include vomiting vomiting, ejection of food and other matter from the stomach through the mouth, often preceded by nausea. The process is initiated by stimulation of the vomiting center of the brain by nerve impulses from the gastrointestinal tract or other part of the body. , diarrhea and stomach cramping cramping see cramp. . The illness, which sickens about 23 million Americans each year, typically lasts only one or two days and causes no long-term health problems, public health officials say. But the bug can cause more serious problems for the very young, the very old and people with weakened immune systems immune system Cells, cell products, organs, and structures of the body involved in the detection and destruction of foreign invaders, such as bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. Immunity is based on the system's ability to launch a defense against such invaders. . Burns said she thinks the bug is spreading from person-to-person contact. Residents are being encouraged to wash their hands frequently, and building staff members have been wiping down surfaces that could harbor the bug. - From Register-Guard and news service reports |
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