New Strain of Norovirus Spreading Quickly in U.S.

Jan. 24, 2013 -- The flu is not the only highly contagious disease raging this winter.

A new strain of norovirus is causing intestinal illness outbreaks across the country, the CDC confirmed today.  

Norovirus is often to blame when large numbers of people get sick on cruise ships or in schools, nursing homes, and other places where people live, work, or play in close quarters.

CDC officials also reported a rise in outbreaks of sickness caused by drinking raw milk.

The findings appear in the Jan. 25 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The new norovirus strain was first identified in Australia in March of last year, and it had spread across the United States by year’s end.

Of the 266 norovirus outbreaks reported during the last four months of 2012, 141 involved the Australian strain. During this time, outbreaks caused by it rose from 19% to 58%.

Sickness from norovirus is often called "food poisoning," but the highly contagious virus can also be spread by water, person-to-person contact, or simply by touching an infected object.

Outbreaks can happen anytime, but they are most common in the winter months.

A norovirus outbreak late last week that involved 300 children at an Arkansas middle school was not caused by the newer strain. But one that happened during a Christmas sailing of the luxury cruise ship Queen Mary 2 was, says Jan Vinje, PhD, who heads the National Calicivirus Laboratory at the CDC.

CDC epidemiologist Aron Hall says it may not be clear for several months if more people are getting sick or more outbreaks are occurring as a result of the new strain.

“We see new strains emerge every few years and sometimes they are associated with increased disease activity,” he says. “We certainly want people to be aware that this potential exists, but the mainstays of norovirus prevention are still the most important things people can do to protect themselves.”

He suggests these strategies to prevent infection:

Wash your hands often.Disinfect surfaces.Avoid preparing food or caring for others when you're sick.Keep your hands away from your face as much as possible.

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Eat Too Much While Watching TV? Try Taking Smaller Bites

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 23 (HealthDay News) -- Ever find yourself wolfing down snacks as you're watching your favorite sitcom? Studies have shown that people eat more when distracted by TV or other pastimes.

A new study finds, however, that there may be a simple way to slow down food intake in these situations: take smaller bites.

In the Dutch study, participants were given a meal of soup to consume as they watched a 15-minute animated film. Two groups ate pre-measured volumes of either small or large sips, while another group was free to take whatever size of sips they wanted.

All the participants could eat as much as they wanted and were later asked to estimate how much they had eaten.

In all three groups, the distraction of watching the film led to a general increase in the amount of soup consumed. The people who ate the pre-specified small sips of soup, however, consumed about 30 percent less than those in the other groups.

The other two groups -- who took bigger sips -- also tended to think they ate much less of the soup than they actually had consumed, said researchers led by Dieuwerke Bolhuis and colleagues from Wageningen University.

"The idea that taking smaller bites would potentially counteract the effects of eating while distracted makes sense from a physiologic standpoint," said registered dietitian Rebecca Solomon, who was not connected to the study.

"We know that it takes approximately 20 minutes for the sensation of 'satiety' or fullness to kick in," explained Solomon, who is nutrition coordinator at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. "When we eat too quickly, we tend to overeat -- whether distracted or not -- because we unknowingly may eat past the point of what I call 'gentle satiety,' an appropriate level of after-meal fullness."

"Taking smaller bites necessarily makes the meal or snack take longer to eat, therefore reducing the amount one would eat within that initial 20 minutes when the feeling of satiation is not yet registered by the brain and stomach," Solomon said.

Another expert agreed.

"The old advice of taking small bites in order to lose weight may have more evidence," said Nancy Copperman, director of public health initiatives in the Office of Community Health at North Shore-LIJ Health System in Great Neck, N.Y.

Her advice? "Avoid inhaling large bites or gulps," she said. "Focus on what you are eating and drinking, enjoy the taste of the meal or snack, and try to avoid distractions when eating."

The study was published Jan. 23 in the journal PLoS One.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases offers advice about food portions.

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Migraine Triggers May Not Always Trigger Migraines

Jan. 23, 2013 -- Worrying about what may trigger a migraine attack adds to the discomfort of many people with migraines. But according to a new study from Denmark, much of that worry may be unfounded.

The researchers studied the effect of light and exercise -- both commonly believed by patients to trigger migraine with aura -- and demonstrated that neither caused attacks in most of the people enrolled in the study.

“There are a lot of things about headache and migraine that are accepted as true but that remain untested,” neurologist Peter Goadsby, MD, Dsc, says of triggers. “The results of this study may surprise some patients.”

Goadsby, director of the University of California, San Francisco Headache Center, co-authored an editorial that accompanied the Danish study. In his clinical practice, he sees many patients whose quality of life suffers as a result of both their migraines and their efforts to avoid triggers that they believe will lead to attacks. In addition to light and exercise, other proposed triggers include stress, emotions, and certain foods.

But there’s little evidence that any of these things really do trigger attacks, says Goadsby. He hopes that, in addition to the current study, there will be much more research on triggers.

“There are tens of millions of people with migraine,” says Goadsby, “and all they have to go on are tales handed down about what triggers them.”

To investigate the impact of light and exercise, researchers at the University of Copenhagen recruited 27 people who had migraine with aura, a condition in which headaches are preceded most often by other symptoms, such as blind spots and light flashes. Nausea, excessive yawning, and numbness are among the other possible aura symptoms. About 1 in 5 people with migraines has migraine with aura.

The study participants -- 17 women and 10 men whose average age was 40 -- all said that light or exercise, or a combination of the two, triggered their attacks. To test their claims, the researchers exposed each of the participants to their triggers.

In 30- to 40-minute sessions, one of three different types of stimulation was used to mimic the light that patients said triggered their migraines. The exercise portion of the study was also intense. Participants went running or pedaled on a stationary bicycle until they reached 80% of their maximum heart rate. Afterward, the researchers monitored the participants for three hours for symptoms.

Overall, only three of the 27 participants had an attack of migraine with aura: one after exercise alone and two following a combination of light and exercise. Another three participants had a migraine without aura. None of the participants had an attack after being exposed to light alone.

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