No training. And not even commitments with journalists. All this, with the isolation of both the four infected Finnish athletes and their roommates. The norovirus infection thus enters as an unwelcome protagonist in the women’s ice hockey tournament at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics. The team from the Nordic country should make its debut against Canada in Milan. But why are we talking about such a fearsome virus? And what can it cause?
What are noroviruses and what they cause
These RNA viruses are part of the family of Caliciviridae. And they take their name from the Ohio city – Norwalk – where there was an epidemic in 1968. Since then they have been considered responsible for real microepidemics, given the ability of these strains to spread in closed environments. This is why we hear about repeated infections in limited situations such as retirement homes, school classrooms or perhaps even cruise ships.
Despite the high contagiousness, as reported on the Epicentro website of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), these are almost never particularly serious infections in healthy people. Generally, the infection manifests itself after an incubation period, with disorders that can concentrate over time and be present for less than a day or up to three days. The classic picture is that of gastroenteritis, with symptoms of the upper digestive tract, in particular nausea and vomiting, and diarrhea with severe stomach aches due to intestinal involvement. Normally the discomfort resolves itself in a few days: the incubation of the virus is 12-48 hours, while the infection lasts from 12 to 60 hours. In some cases, a slight fever also occurs. The disease usually has no serious consequences, and most people recover in 1-2 days without complications. Particular attention should be paid to the loss of liquids and mineral salts, especially in very young children and in those who are not in good health.
How to deal with it and prevent it
On the treatment front, there is no specific therapy for norovirus infection. However, it is important to carefully monitor the person’s state of health, trying to contain diarrheal discharges, vomiting and other disorders with targeted treatments.
In terms of the risk of spreading the infection, prevention is difficult. And not only because viruses could also attack the same person over time, but also and above all due to their high capacity to cause infection. Just think that, again according to the data reported by the ISS experts, 10 viral particles would be enough to give rise to an infection.
Not only that: the virus also tends to remain in the environment, which makes it even more difficult to contain cases. Transmission occurs directly from person to person, via fecal-oral or via aerosol, or via infected water or food, but also by contact with contaminated surfaces. In addition to avoiding close relationships between people, therefore, we must also pay attention to food and the consumption of water used for washing food.
In addition to direct spread from person to person, with amplification of the number of cases, microepidemics are often associated with the consumption of raw seafood, salads, berries, contaminated water, cold foods, sprouts, herbs and spices.
