Stomach bug upsets facilities' holiday fun.

Byline: Tim Christie The Register-Guard

It's the season for sharing, and we're not talking just about gifts and goodwill.

Noroviruses and similar bugs that cause gastric upset are making the rounds at local nursing homes and assisted living facilities, public health officials say.

The bugs have sickened 120 to 140 residents and staff members at five nursing homes in the past month, Jeff Lang, environmental health supervisor at Lane County Public Health, said Tuesday. No one has been hospitalized.

"It's nothing unusual or out of the ordinary for this time of the year," he said.

ElderHealth & Living, a facility in the Thurston area of Springfield that specializes in caring for people with dementia or memory loss, is one of three local facilities fighting a stomach bug.

Barbara Passarelli, assistant administrator, said the bug, which cropped up about two weeks ago, has not been identified as norovirus.

Administrators have quarantined the ElderHealth campus, which has eight individual homes, each with 10 residents, Passarelli said. Residents have been confined to their homes, and family members and friends have been barred from visiting. The Christmas party was canceled twice, but they may organize a New Year's party instead if the virus subsides, she said.

"What I've told families is, it's the season of giving, but we're not sharing this," she said.

The holidays mean more visitors, group gatherings and finger food at nursing homes, all of which can contribute to the spread of noroviruses, Passarelli said.

Noroviruses are always present in the community, he said, and almost everyone gets a touch of the bug at one time or another. The virus sickens about 23 million Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Administrators of the other two nursing homes, RiverPark Nursing Home and Sheldon Park Assisted Living, have not quarantined their facilities, but they are asking visitors to check in at the main office first, Lang said.

Bill Keene, a senior epidemiologist with the state Public Health Division, said noroviruses cases typically rise during the winter in Oregon.

"Last winter, we had an unprecedented number of reported clusters," he said. "We're hoping we don't see anything like that this year."

While the number of reported norovirus outbreaks has increased in recent years, it's not clear if the disease has grown more prevalent or whether public health officials are doing a better job of tracking the disease, he said.

The best way to prevent its spread is by hand-washing and by making sure staff members clean hard surfaces such as hand rails and door knobs, Lang said.

Noroviruses are a group of viruses that cause what's commonly referred to as stomach flu or gastroenteritis. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramping. The illness typically lasts only one or two days with no long-term health problems, according to the CDC.

The bug can pose a more serious problem for the very young, the very old and people with weakened immune systems.

Noroviruses are very contagious and can spread easily. The virus spreads through eating food, touching contaminated surfaces or having direct contact with another person who is infected.

People who are infected are contagious from the moment they feel ill to at least three days after recovery.