MELBOURNE, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The world could be rocked by a gastroenteritis epidemic in the next two to seven months, Australian experts have warned.
Researchers from the Royal Melbourne Hospital's Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory identified a dangerous strain of the virus norovirus, the most common cause of gastro, in Victoria.
Mike Catton, director of the laboratory, said the strain had mutated since first being identified in August 2015 and could now skip around herd immunity.
Catton said the strain was responsible for most cases of gastro, a stomach virus that often causes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, in Victoria in the last 18 months.
"If this new recombinant has undergone enough change to escape herd immunity and become the next epidemic variant, then from its first detection in Victoria in mid-June 2016, the expected epidemic could be any time between mid-August 2016 and January 2017," the researchers wrote in their findings, published in European journal Eurosurveillance on Friday.
Based on historic data going back 14 years, the researchers said this particular strain could even spread worldwide and become a pandemic.
"If past trends are followed, then it would have the potential to also predominate in other parts of the world," they wrote.
"Based on years of experience monitoring new norovirus strains we think that this new strain is genetically different enough to cause an epidemic," Catton told Fairfax Media on Friday.
Victoria's chief health officer, Charles Guest, issued an official warning about the impending outbreak.
"As is common with many viruses, norovirus can mutate and, through routine surveillance from our public health laboratories, we know it does so frequently," Guest told Fairfax on Friday.
"Occasionally the virus changes to become so different that the community has no effective immunity.
"This means that everyone who comes into contact with it is very susceptible to illness; whether contact is with faeces of an infected person or by being close to an infected person who is vomiting."
Children under five years old and the elderly are most at risk of catching gastro.
悠然闲适尽在下午茶:下午茶的来历
咖啡文化:卡布奇诺(Cappuccino)的命名故事
海外文化:圣诞老人的传说
英国育儿账单大曝光(图)
为什么喝酒前要碰杯呢?
外国人眼中的"名牌"是什么?
10个短句和老外轻松聊葡萄酒
欧美文化:谁是"山姆大叔"?
是谁最早成立的啦啦队
欧洲饮酒调查:英国人酒量最大(图)
咖啡文化:玛奇朵咖啡名字的由来
生活杂谈:九个出国必备的美式幽默
菲利普亲王的搞笑语录
享受生活中的点滴 回味柏拉图式的美好时光 (下)
海外文化美国人的个性
海外文化:盘点世界各地关于换牙的传统习俗
欧美文化:美国国旗的意义
纽约的十大绰号,你知道几个?
欧美文化:趣谈中英文化中的动物之别
异域采风:从《新娘大作战》看英美婚俗
美利坚搞笑十大怪
异域采风:英国的下午茶和6点茶
入乡随俗必须知道的五个禁忌
海外文化:美国人眼中的道德观
海外文化:美国家庭成员之间如何称谓?
大千世界:全球最恐怖的10个古堡(双语组图)
咖啡文化:爱尔兰咖啡(Cafe Irish)的命名故事
29岁美女当选英国最年轻市长(图)
咖啡文化:康宝蓝意式咖啡
咖啡文化:了解咖啡豆命名的依据
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |