Health Protection Agency reporting increases still...

[thelittlestranger]

Fantastic. While I am trying my absolute best to try and not take these statistics to heart, I undoubtedly am, and I'm left worrying more than ever. BBC News reported it on their 'BREAKING NEWS' Twitter feed (urgh) and I went to the HPA website to see what was going on.

Can anyone make any sense of these? It all sounds too vague to me - they don't seem to know why the onset is early this year.

http://www.hpa.org.uk/NewsCentre/Nat...virusactivity/

[anxious28]

Tell me about it. Massively fed up of this now. Noro here. Noro there. Noro blinkin everywhere. What is going on with this bug?? are people still not listening to hygiene advice or is it becoming more resiliant? Most people I know have had it and have several friends/family members/colleagues who have it. It is beyond a joke

[thelittlestranger]

I know what you're saying anxious... It's just worrying how bad it actually is now, and I'm struggling to put it into perspective.

[Jackie87x]

This past week/week and a half have been hell for me. My OCD is coming back big time (haven't suffered with it like this for years). I am so paranoid that my husband is going to get it. I can't leave the house, getting through hand gel like its going outta fashion and was even spraying everything from my asda delivery with disinfectant before putting it away incase the delivery man or someone in the store who was infected had touched it. I feel like I am going mad. Nearly bought on a panic attack when I went on BBC website and saw that. Infact I have ritually been checking both BBC website and my local news website everyday just to check there is no breaking news and now there is ahh. I see my psychiatrist in 3 weeks time I just hope he can help as this is absolute hell. Husband is out with a friend right now and I am so scared that he is going to turn up at home and say that he isn't feeling well or maybe that someone at his friends house has recently had it (husbands hand washing skills are non existent), that or the take away be got yesterday was contaminated some how. Sorry to ramble but this is horrible to top it all off I am suffering from a cold which is really hindering my ability to cope.

[Sparkle40]

It is awful when all they seem to report is figures and how many hospital wards have been closed etc etc. I try to avoid reading it now because it just makes me even more anxious and panicky. I get where you're coming from with the husband thingy, mine doesnt wash his hands outdoors or take all the precautions i would, so im also paranoid he will bring it home and me and the kids will get it..

[LouiseR]

I don't understand when people being sick became newsworthy?? The news came on the radio whilst I was driving today 3 times, and each time noro was the first story. It's ridiculous. I guess it makes people more aware and hopefully encourages better hygiene but I'm really sceptical that anyone changes their ways because of these reports.

I spent the afternoon thinking of all the ways the virus could be in my house right now e.g other family members bringing it in, or basically on anything I touched whilst out as I didn't wash my hands until getting home so if I touched an infected surface then my bag/phone/purse/shopping all of them have it! So stressful.

But even though i'm stressing I can't help but think these reports are a load of crap, how on earth can they know that for every one reported case 288 go unreported...if they're unreported then surely they have no idea how many people have it? I just don't know where they're pulling these figures from. So it is an estimated 1 million since the summer which is approx 1 in 60 in the UK. But then bear in mind homes hospitals cruise ships etc that have had outbreaks surely make up a lot of the figures. Or are they reported? I get the impression they're not as reported cases are the ones that have been lab tested, and they won't lab test everyone in the hospital etc surely? Putting the figures into perspective really helps. It's just that the fact its on tv/radio/papers/internet makes us think it's serious and that it really is everywhere. Personally I know only 1 person to have had it and this girl genuinely has a terrible immune system.

[Arkham_Patient]

I think the news also likes to make people freak out a lot. I have never heard anything positive from the news. If they didn't have their "drama" then no one would probably watch the news. They over play everything. However, Besides us who suffer from this phobia or any other kind of thing that would cause them to wash their hands more often than others, people do not seem to wash their hands before they put anything in their mouths! My boyfriend is constantly touching his mouth after touching everything, it's soooooooooooo annoying. Just keep up good hygiene and I'm sure we will all be fine.

[sammy_gaga]

on the bbc website it did say it hasnt risen greatly from a couple of weeks ago. think about how many people are in the uk, 62 million people, 1 million have had it since the summer. more people WONT get it than will....i hate all this stuff in the news, its doing my head in, its ruined my xmas so we need to try and not look on the news etc, they always make things out to be worse

[Cynna]

http://www.emetophobia.org/showthrea...-aus-worldwide

[thelittlestranger]

It has really irritated me that I have just watched the channel 4 news and whilst they have gone over all these figures and statistics not ONCE did they mention hand washing. Urgh!

[Cynna]

Please read
http://www.emetophobia.org/showthrea...-aus-worldwide

[thelittlestranger]

Thanks Cynna, your thread was brilliant! Read it when you first posted but did need reminding.

My biggest concern now is that my other half just bought me McDonalds (was a surprise, bless him!) and I scraped out the lettuce but what if I catch something from them?! What if something has touched the food?!

[Cynna]

I am sure they used gloves. You can worry about things until you go crazy. People eat out all the time and do not get sick. Also the burger warmed up the lettuce. If it got to 140 deg F, then any noro would be dead.

[DeadxxInside92]

I can totally attest to the fact that it keeps spreading because people are not properly educated on transmission and proper hygiene habits. One of my coworkers was like, "I don't know why I keep getting sick!!" and proceeded to put her hand to her mouth/bite her fingers. *Facepalm*

Anyways, my anxiety has definitely reached an all time high this season. It's awful. I don't think the virus is necessarily becoming more resiliant though. Another thing is I think people just assume they are no longer able to infect others or contaminate surfaces as soon as their symptoms cease, which we all know is not the case. How unfortunate. Best thing to do is to avoid articles such as this. Do not search the internet for upsetting topics because it will just exacerbate your anxiety.

[DeadxxInside92]

Eris, I would post a picture of what my hands currently look like but I don't want to gross anyone out lol .Seriously, it hurts like nobody's business. They are so cracked and bleed...due to obsessively washing and I am allergic to the powder in the gloves I have to wear at work. Fortunately, my supervisor ordered me new ones that are due to be in Monday! Score! lol

[Cynna]

Dead, we have the cheap plastic gloves and the real gloves with powder. Do you have the cheap plastic ones too? They are a pain since the price sticker sticks to them and destroys them. Anyway, I wear a cheap plastic glove under the cut resistant glove since it breaks me out. Is that an option until your gloves come in????

[thelittlestranger]

Thank you for your replies I really appreciate it <3

[DeadxxInside92]

Dead, we have the cheap plastic gloves and the real gloves with powder. Do you have the cheap plastic ones too? They are a pain since the price sticker sticks to them and destroys them. Anyway, I wear a cheap plastic glove under the cut resistant glove since it breaks me out. Is that an option until your gloves come in????

I can't work with the cut gloves that well. I make pizzas so (not to freak anyone out) I work with the dough and raw ingredients with my bare hands. That being said, I always always ALWAYS use gloves when coming in contact with food that has already been cooked.

[fixxxer2012]

No doubt its a bad cold and noro season. It ran through my home earlier this month, not fun but it is short lived. Hopefully we will hit peak earlier than usual. Hard to believe it isnt even mid winter yet.

[thelittlestranger]

I'm seriously struggling right now. Pounding headache, feel very queasy, don't know what to do with myself.

[Cynna]

How are you doing now? Hoping it is just anxiety you are feeling.

[Kazzia]

I totally agree with the sentiments on this thread. Noro has been on and off the news for a month now and it's driving me insane. My own mother who is a nurse said this evening "I don't get it - I never heard about norovirus in the 70s and 80s when I was working in the hospitals, I'm sure it never used to exist". Obviously it was discovered before this time but seemed a lot rarer than these days. My mum has caught it from the hospital twice in the last 10 years, so it's clearly on the increase. But yes, since when has it been newsworthy?? It's not even a newsworthy story. Judging by the state of my throat and nose earlier this month, I swear cases of rhinovirus are on the increase too...my whole office has had that recently. Of course, that's not newsworthy as we all get colds! (and I'd rather have a heavy cold for 12 months than get noro!)

My theory is that a combination of an ever-increasing population and bad hygiene is making norovirus worse. Would anyone say people are less hygienic these days than in the past? I don't know. Paradoxically, would an increase in anti-bacterial products in the past 10-20 years be making our immune systems weaker? I know it's anti-bac and not anti-viral, but our more "sanitised" modern lifestyles could be making people's immune systems weaker generally. In any case, I wish someone would do some research on it, and I wish these lazy journalists would stop pressing "refresh" on the HPA's noro statistics page and making up their weekly stories on it.

If it helps, I still don't know of anyone who's had norovirus yet. This includes all my colleagues and friends in central London, various family members scattered across the UK and also my nephews' primary school of several hundred children. The only thing they've all come down with is a heavy cold and sore throat. And of course, even if the statistics are remotely accurate, which I doubt they are, that is still only 1 in 60 people who has had it. And of course, that one person is likely to be in a hospital, care home, school, cruise ship or, most likely - extremely lax with their hygiene!

Still, it's not stopped me from fretting myself. These news stories latch on to my vivid imagination and subconscious - I had my worst panic attack in a year the other night because of all of this :-(

[FedUpLady]

Unfortunately it is easier said than done to rationalise. I was reclusive for 2 months some years ago as a consequence of reading information, news etc re norovirus. It totally did my head in. I was then so desperate to get outside and live a more normal life that I somehow pushed stuff to the back of my mind a bit more and never read the news- I also purchased hand sanitisers by Newgenn which provided me with the ability to function easier outside as before then I had to handwash after doing anything which made my hands get very damaged and was generally difficult and awkward. This is the first Winter since then where my anxiety has increased a lot and I'm practically reclusive again at the moment (I work from home so I can still manage to work etc) and I'm certain it was because I gave in to reading the sensationalised news because I felt I had to know what was going on, but that only made things worse- viscous circle. I would say that the news sensationalises I would also say that there is undeniably a fair amount of the stuff going round, but when put into context of the entire population it's not so extreme but it's still easier said than done to rationalise this which is kind of my point. I definitely think reading about stuff can be a very bad idea but it's hard not to for some reason.

[fixxxer2012]

I dont buy into news hype but theres no doubt its a early, rough start to the flu/noro season. Again my daughter caught my sons cold and she losts her voice so i took her to the ER to be checked. It was like watching the movie contagion. They had about 50 people wearing masks becuase of influenza. The doc told me she hasnt seen it this bad in 10 years. As an emet and a germ hater im going out of my mind becuase my kids keep getting sick. We even all had noro earlier in the month. Its going to be a long winter if these illnesses dont peak soon.

Hope i didnt worry anyone but i regret seeing what i did at the hospital today. Hang tight guys, we will get through this. I think the reason the illnesses are so high is becuase of the holidays. People refused to stay home when sick. I suspect there will be another short spike when the kids return to school after xmas break. I will say in my 37 years of life ive never seen my kids catch one thing after another. Its not just us either, its everyone i talk to.

[Cynna]

Have to say this, been thinking this for a while. Does the spread of Noro in places like London and other large cities have a little something to do with the increasing numbers of immigrants to these areas. I am wondering if some of these immigrants practice good hand washing in their native countries. Some of their home countries could be third world countries that may not have a lot of good sanitation infastuctures at home. Not trying to shade any immigrants, but just wondering. I am from a country that was founded by immigrants.

[thelittlestranger]

Morning all

I'm not doing too bad, thanks Cynna. I'm struggling with my IBS at the moment and I think that's the cause for a lot more fretting.

I think it's great all the information all posters here have shared, and their views and opinions. I'm trying my best to keep rational and try to prioritise other things in my life, but it makes it tough that my sister has just moved in with my fiancé and I, and I worry she'll bring something home. Plus, I'm back to work after the Christmas break on Wednesday and I wonder what joys will be lurking in the office!

Cynna, I do wonder that myself about immigrants. I don't mean it horribly either (of course) but there have been outbreaks other than noro that have been brought into the country. Was whooping cough one? I know that's a worry for pregnant women right now.

To the poster who said about Newgenn hand sanitiser - I notice you're from the UK but have never heard of this! Does it kill noro?

[FedUpLady]

littlestranger: Google Newgenn Ltd, I use the foam hand rub and the foam hand wash which is recommended byViRUSafewhich is a company that provides infection control products themselves, do google them

[FedUpLady]

littlestranger: Google Newgenn Ltd, I use the foam hand rub and the foam hand wash which is recommended byViRUSafewhich is a company that provides infection control products themselves, do google them

[fixxxer2012]

Have to say this, been thinking this for a while. Does the spread of Noro in places like London and other large cities have a little something to do with the increasing numbers of immigrants to these areas. I am wondering if some of these immigrants practice good hand washing in their native countries. Some of their home countries could be third world countries that may not have a lot of good sanitation infastuctures at home. Not trying to shade any immigrants, but just wondering. I am from a country that was founded by immigrants.

i agree alot of these illnesses and the sudden increase could well be from illegal immigrants in the country. as you know there are no health screening when they cross the boarders. i dunno by you but by me we have a high population of mexican and as we know mexico is a 3rd world country. not trying to sound racist but ive been saying this for years. if you do a google search on the topic many others think this too.