Norovirus-related food poisoning is back this season after Japan saw 416 cases affecting 17,632 people in 2013. The health and welfare ministry says the number of cases has been rising for the past 10 years.
At a Kyoto hospital, four inpatients, 83 to 91 years old, died of the poisoning in mid-December. Norovirus poisoning also hit students at 15 elementary schools in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, in mid-January. On Jan. 16 alone, some 1,000 students were absent from school. Those schools were closed temporarily.
One needs to discard the notion that food poisoning happens only in warmer seasons. Norovirus food poisoning continues into February. Disinfection by alcohol does not work. Frequent hand-washing with soap is the easiest and most effective preventive measure, in particular after using the toilet.