Scientists are currently working on clinical trials on a norovirus vaccine, and are testing half a dozen potential solutions.
As norovirus cases continue to spread throughout the UK, the news that a vaccine could be closer than ever provides a glimmer of hope. The virus causes diarrhoea and vomiting as well as a high temperature and headache and is known by many as the winter vomiting bug – although it can be caught at any time of year.
Scientists are currently working on clinical trials and are testing half a dozen vaccine candidates. All of the potential vaccines work by targeting the primary surface protein that encases a norovirus molecule, but they use different approaches, Scientific American reports.
One approach to a possible vaccine uses the same mRNA technology that was used in the creation of the Covid vaccines. This involves genetic information for the norovirus protein being injected into someone to trigger the immune response. Doran Fink, a vaccine scientist at Moderna, the biotech company, said this method can be easily updated as and when different norovirus strains become dominant.
Fink’s team has designed a norovirus vaccine and the company is now recruiting people to test it, Scientific American said. However, as with the flu vaccine, if the vaccine does make it through the trial stages it will likely be offered to people older than 65 first.
Another potential way of creating a norovirus vaccine involves producing a primary surface protein, which will form empty structures in the same shape as the virus. These empty shells would be injected into a person and the body would react as it would to the real thing, which trains the immune system.
NHS data shows that during the first week of February, 961 patients a day were in hospital with norovirus. Amy Douglas, an epidemiologist at the UK Health Security Agency, said: “Norovirus cases are way above what we would usually see at this time of year and outbreaks in hospitals continue to rise. Just because you’ve had norovirus doesn’t mean you won’t get it again.”
Douglas urged anyone with diarrhoea and vomiting to take steps to “avoid passing the infection on”. “Please avoid visiting people in hospitals and care homes to prevent passing on the infection in these settings,” she said.
Meanwhile, Julian Redhead, the NHS national clinical director for urgent and emergency care, said that hospitals were continuing to treat hundreds of patients who were ill with the “highly infectious and unpleasant norovirus bug”. Redhead added that the rate of cases is at the highest level recorded for this time of year since 2020. “The twin pressures of winter viruses and problems discharging patients means hospitals are close to full – even as more beds have been opened to manage the increased demand,” Redhead explained.
About 685 million cases of norovirus are reported around the world each year, according to Cleveland Clinic. Children under five and older adults, as well as those with weakened immune systems, are most at risk.
You can catch norovirus by being in contact with someone with the virus, touching objects or surfaces that have the germs on them, or eating food that has been prepared or handled by someone with norovirus. NHS advice also states that you can catch it by drinking unclean water or infected food.
According to NHS guidelines, after contracting the virus, you will usually start to feel better within two to three days. Key to feeling better are to have lots of fluids to avoid dehydration, stay at home, get plenty of rest, and take paracetamol if you are in discomfort.