Below, I have reprinted an article I found regarding a study done on immunity to the Norwalk virus, and a possible vaccine.


It's interesting reading, and a comfort to me to know there are people working on this.


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<STR&#079;NG class=relemb>Public release date: 14-May-2003[/b]
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Contact: Deb Saine
[email protected]
919-962-8415
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

<H1 class=title>Study finds portion of population resistant to infectious Norwalk virus</H1>
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CHAPEL HILL -- Noroviruses, which have been especially problematic in the cruise industry in recent years, cause digestive tract infection or irritation resulting in an estimated 23 million infections, 50,000 hospitalizations and 300 deaths nationwide each year.


The viruses are the leading cause of epidemic acute, non-bacterial gastroenteritis in the United States, yet new research findings have indicated that 29 percent of individuals participating in a study were completely resistant to the representative virus strain, the Norwalk virus. Other participants showed evidence of acquired immunity, the study results indicated.


The findings of the new study, conducted by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health and their colleagues, suggest that individuals may be effectively vaccinated against Norwalk virus and possibly other Noroviruses.


A report on the study appears in the May issue of the journal Nature Medicine.


The elderly and young children are at higher risks of contracting severe Norovirus infections, especially in institutionalized settings. The Norwalk virus is highly infectious and transmitted through person-to-person contact, exposure to contaminated surfaces and ingestion of feces-contaminated food and water.


Communities, family settings, schools, hospitals, the military and cruise ships are especially vulnerable to outbreaks of the virus.


Dr. Ralph Baric, professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health; lead author Lisa Lindesmith, a laboratory research specialist in epidemiology at the School of Public Health; and colleagues analyzed samples collected during two studies to investigate human susceptibility and resistance to Norwalk virus infection. Volunteers received different doses of the virus, after which 44 percent developed infection. However, those 29 percent of st