Pursuits
Vomiting Bug From Asia Threatens Global Wave of Gastro Outbreaks
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A virus that caused a spate of vomiting and diarrhea in Asia last winter appears to be spreading globally, threatening larger outbreaks of gastro infections that are a bane of luxury cruises.
The new strain of norovirus known as GII.17 that emerged in southern China has the potential to spread widely because people will probably lack immunity to it, researchers in Japan said Thursday. That means the bug, which kills about 800 people in an average year in the U.S., could sicken hundreds of millions of people worldwide as the highly contagious disease is transmitted by infected food and people.