If you simply smell it, can it make you sick?

[mooki]

If you smell anything, it means that aerosolized particles of it are making it to the smell receptors in your nose. So if someone with noro vomits and you can smell the sour smell from it by walking by it on the sidewalk, does that mean you may now be infected because you breathed the particles into your nose?

[Coco]

Well, it's a tricky question! You see, if you were standing right next to the person when they were (you know!) and then you hung about with them, breathing it in etc. Then yes, MAYBE you could get it because it is an airborne virus (I'm sorry to make people anxious, but this is the truth, I am so sorry!)...but if you wash your hands and turn your face away from the stuff, then there is much less of a chance of you catching anything.
REMEMBER: People who have norovirus wouldn't usually be up to walking down the street, they'd be tucked up in bed at home. So, stuff on the street is mostly just drunk people and little kids...don't worry!

Hours after the actual event, it can still smell! By which time, it's only the acid you can smell, you don't need to worry to much, but don't go looking for it and sniffing it deliberately.

[mooki]

So I guess if someone with noro couldn't make it in time and vomited in an office, a car, an airplane or some other enclosed area, then everyone in proximity is almost sure to get it? :-(

[turbokinetic]

Smells can come from gases and vapors, as well as aerosolized particles.

I don't know what the "active ingredient" in vomit odor is. If it is a gaseous compound, you CAN smell it without any chance of PARICLES of noro entering your nose.

David

[gumdropper1]

Mooki,

If you are in an enclosed space where someone with noro vomits (or sneezes), you are at risk. There is a documented case of noro being spread where someone vomited in a crowded banquet room. People were more likely to catch it themselves the closer they were to the person who blew chunks. The only safe thing to do is to get out when someone vomits in an enclosed room.

The photo shows how a sneeze is aersolized. I suppose vomit would be similar?

Doug

[paulinek]

it is an airborne virus (I'm sorry to make people anxious, but this is the truth, I am so sorry.

it's not an airborne virus. You have to get the actual vomit up your nose or in your mouth which obviously could happen if you were very closeby to someone when it happened but the virus itself is not "in the air" so no need to go around holding your breath around people like I did for years...in answer to the original question, no i do not believe you can catch anything purely from there being a smell.

[JustLacey]

Smells make me gag, but not v...

[JustLacey]

^ Did I get the wrong end of the stick?

[sage]

Just smelling it doesn't mean you've inhaled the particles. The aerosol spray happens when the person vomits, and thanks to gravity they will settle to the ground pretty darn quickly. You can smell it for ages afterward though.

And in answer to the person who asked if everyone close to someone who vomits in public is at risk...yes, they are.

[JustLacey]

Today I came out my tech lesson (I know it's a coinsidence! Can't spell it though...) And there was a pretty disgusting smell. I thought I was probably what the little kids in the cooking block were doing (They can't cook......:S They'd give someone Salmonella....) I held my nose, and breathed in a couple of times, until I realised, from all of the "Someones been sick!!!" and the "Why are the little year sevens alway sick?", I knew someone had been sick...I finally walked past, holding my nose, and saw a bit of debris, where the janitor had swept it up. Uuuurgh. I have been feeling nauseous and scared for ages now! :S