“Is it gonna be poop or is it gonna be barf?” It’s the question we all fear during a bout of food poisoning when time is of the essence and a decision has to be made before it’s made for us. Often, the germ forcing this question upon us is none other than the dreaded norovirus. First called “winter vomiting disease” for reasons obvious to anyone who has been unfortunate enough to become infected, norovirus now conjures up images of puking passengers aboard cruise ships or oysters on the half shell secretly harboring a vomiting virus. In this episode, we delve into the world of norovirus, examining what qualities make it spread so rapidly and sicken us so quickly. Our tour of norovirus history takes us down some surprising roads, where we meet Vomiting Larry and chat about vulture vomit. We round out the episode by looking at norovirus by the numbers, dispelling the notion that norovirus can only be found aboard cruise ships. Spoilers: it’s everywhere.
| History | Biology |
| Adler, Jonathan L., and Raymond Zickl. “Winter vomiting disease.” The Journal of infectious diseases 119.6 (1969): 668-673. | Robilotti, E., Deresinski, S. and Pinsky, B.A., 2015. Norovirus. Clinical microbiology reviews, 28(1), pp.134-164. |
| Campos, Carlos JA, and David N. Lees. “Environmental transmission of human noroviruses in shellfish waters.” Applied and environmental microbiology 80.12 (2014): 3552-3561. | Lopman, B., Gastanaduy, P., Park, G.W., Hall, A.J., Parashar, U.D. and Vinjé, J., 2012. Environmental transmission of norovirus gastroenteritis. Current opinion in virology, 2(1), pp.96-102. |
| Davenport, Caillan, and Shushma Malik. “Mythbusting ancient Rome: the truth about the vomitorium.” (2017). | Teunis, P.F.M., Sukhrie, F.H.A., Vennema, H., Bogerman, J., Beersma, M.F.C. and Koopmans, M.P.G., 2015. Shedding of norovirus in symptomatic and asymptomatic infections. Epidemiology & Infection, 143(8), pp.1710-1717. |
| De Graaf, Miranda, Janko van Beek, and Marion PG Koopmans. “Human norovirus transmission and evolution in a changing world.” Nature Reviews Microbiology 14.7 (2016): 421-433. | De Graaf, M., van Beek, J. and Koopmans, M.P., 2016. Human norovirus transmission and evolution in a changing world. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 14(7), pp.421-433. |
| de Graaf, Miranda, Nele Villabruna, and Marion PG Koopmans. “Capturing norovirus transmission.” Current opinion in virology 22 (2017): 64-70. | Ahmed, S.M., Hall, A.J., Robinson, A.E., Verhoef, L., Premkumar, P., Parashar, U.D., Koopmans, M. and Lopman, B.A., 2014. Global prevalence of norovirus in cases of gastroenteritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet infectious diseases, 14(8), pp.725-730.s transmission and evolution in a changing world. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 14(7), pp.421-433. |
| Dolin, Raphael, et al. “Transmission of acute infectious nonbacterial gastroenteritis to volunteers by oral administration of stool filtrates.” The Journal of infectious diseases 123.3 (1971): 307-312. | van Beek, J., de Graaf, M., Al-Hello, H., Allen, D.J., Ambert-Balay, K., Botteldoorn, N., Brytting, M., Buesa, J., Cabrerizo, M., Chan, M. and Cloak, F., 2018. Molecular surveillance of norovirus, 2005–16: an epidemiological analysis of data collected from the NoroNet network. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 18(5), pp.545-553. |
| Dolin, Raphael, et al. “Biological properties of Norwalk agent of acute infectious nonbacterial gastroenteritis.” Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 140.2 (1972): 578-583. | WHO Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals: Norovirus. https://www.who.int/teams/immunization-vaccines-and-biologicals/diseases/norovirus |
| Flaxman, Samuel M., and Paul W. Sherman. “Morning sickness: adaptive cause or nonadaptive consequence of embryo viability?.” The American Naturalist 172.1 (2008): 54-62. | Lopman, B.A., Steele, D., Kirkwood, C.D. and Parashar, U.D., 2016. The vast and varied global burden of norovirus: prospects for prevention and control. PLoS medicine, 13(4), p.e1001999. |
| Gerhart, D. J., and J. C. Coll. “Pukalide, a widely distributed octocoral diterpenoid, induces vomiting in fish.” Journal of chemical ecology 19 (1993): 2697-2704. | NoroNet: https://www.rivm.nl/en/noronet |
| Hamlet, Arran. “Notes from the Field: Gastrointestinal Illness Among Hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail—Washington, August–October 2022.” MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 72 (2023). | |
| Hellysaz, Arash, et al. “Viral gastroenteritis: sickness symptoms and behavioral responses.” Mbio 14.2 (2023): e03567-22. | |
| Herz, Rachel S., and Julia von Clef. “The influence of verbal labeling on the perception of odors: evidence for olfactory illusions?.” Perception 30.3 (2001): 381-391. | |
| Horn, Charles C. “Why is the neurobiology of nausea and vomiting so important?.” Appetite 50.2-3 (2008): 430-434. | |
| Horn, Charles C. “The physiology of vomiting.” Nausea and vomiting: diagnosis and treatment (2017): 15-25. | |
| Jones, Timothy F., and Jane Yackley. “Foodborne disease outbreaks in the United States: a historical overview.” Foodborne Pathogens and Disease 15.1 (2018): 11-15. | |
| Kirby, Amy E., Ashleigh Streby, and Christine L. Moe. “Vomiting as a symptom and transmission risk in norovirus illness: evidence from human challenge studies.” Plos one 11.4 (2016): e0143759. | |
| Lucero, Yalda, et al. “Norovirus: facts and reflections from past, present, and future.” Viruses 13.12 (2021): 2399. | |
| Makison Booth, Catherine. “Vomiting Larry: a simulated vomiting system for assessing environmental contamination from projectile vomiting related to norovirus infection.” Journal of infection prevention 15.5 (2014): 176-180. | |
| Prendergast, Jokn J., and Martka W. MacDonald. “and THE NATION’S HEALTH.” | |
| Vogel, Howard H. “Observations on social behavior in turkey vultures.” The Auk 67.2 (1950): 210-216. | |
| WARING, JOSEPH I. “The vomiting disease.” American Journal of Diseases of Children 64.3 (1942): 482-484. | |
| White, P. A. “Evolution of norovirus.” Clinical Microbiology and Infection 20.8 (2014): 741-745. | |
| Widdowson, Marc-Alain, Stephan S. Monroe, and Roger I. Glass. “Are noroviruses emerging?.” Emerging infectious diseases 11.5 (2005): 735. |
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