Korean J healthc assoc Infect Control Prev.  2022 Jun;27(1):69-72. 10.14192/kjicp.2022.27.1.69.

Effectiveness of Norovirus Outbreak Management Protocol for Controlling Outbreak of Norovirus in Pediatric Wards

• Kim EO
• Park HA

• KMID: 2530828
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.14192/kjicp.2022.27.1.69

Abstract

A norovirus outbreak management protocol was implemented in a tertiary care hospital in Seoul, South Korea. This was to prevent outbreaks of and the spread of the virus in the pediatric wards of the hospital. We compared the number of outbreaks, duration of outbreaks or clusters, and number of nosocomial transmissions before (Period 1) and after the protocol was implemented (Period 2). A total of 3 norovirus outbreaks occurred during Period 1, and there were 4 cluster cases but no outbreaks during Period 2, due to adequate management in the preoutbreak stage. The duration of prevalence or cluster management decreased from a median of 33 days (IQR, 30-36) in the Period 1 to a median of 14.5 days (IQR, 12.5-19) in Period 2 (P=0.057). The proportion of cases from nosocomial transmission among the total number of cases within an outbreak or cluster period significantly decreased from 65.2% (15/23 cases) in Period 1 to 0% (0/16 cases) in Period 2 (P=0.001). With the implementation of the protocol, early detection of the epidemic and immediate interventions were possible. It was therefore possible to prevent nosocomial norovirus outbreaks.

Keyword

Norovirus; Disease outbreak; Outbreak management protocol

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