Although norovirus has become one of the most spread gastrointestinal-related diseases, the number of fatal cases is relatively small. Moreover, Hewitt et al. (2019) highlights that there is not enough evidence to prove that this disease is fatal. The leading cause of the disease spread is the poor quality of food and its cooking. In addition, the infection is found on the cuts of prepared foods, which is rarely controlled by the customers. Therefore, it is vital to check the quality of not only raw products but also those prepared in the store or at the factory, which are the products that only need to be heated, as buyers of ready-made products account for many victims of the disease.
Speaking of why norovirus came to the fore, it is worth noting that the number of products and manufacturers has grown in enormous numbers in recent years (Hewitt et al., 2019). To be competitive, manufacturers often reduce the price of their products, saving on the quality and production. Thus, by not adhering to sanitary standards that are not monitored during food preparation, customers become massively infected and spread the disease further. (Kitajima et al., 2017). The reason why people do not die from this disease is that it is quite unstable in the human body. It means that the immune system is able to defeat it without much effort, which prevents the reproduction and rapid pathology of the person. Even though the mortality rate of norovirus is low, the immunity does not work forever (Kitajima et al., 2017). This means that after a while, the body becomes vulnerable to the disease again, and treatment has to be started again. Generally speaking, it is essential to say that despite the fact that this disease is not fatal, its symptoms are very unpleasant, such as vomiting, diarrhea, fever and others. Like any other disease, it is necessary to protect against it, which is best done by following the sanitary norms of cooking and eating food.
References
Hewitt, J., Rivera-Aban, M., & Greening, G. E. (2019). Evaluation of murine norovirus as a surrogate for human norovirus and hepatitis A virus in heat inactivation studies. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 107(1), 65–71.
Kitajima, M., Tohya, Y., Matsubara, K., Haramoto, E., Utagawa, E., & Katayama, H. (2017). Chlorine inactivation of human norovirus, murine norovirus and poliovirus in drinking water. Letters in Applied Microbiology, no-no.