[Investigation of an outbreak of norovirus gastroenteritis in a geriatric hospital]

National audience; In aged-care facilities, gastroenteritis outbreaks are responsible for big trouble in the management of cares to the elderly. In November 2002, a gastroenteritis outbreak was observed in 5 of the 6 wards of the geriatric hospital La Charité, University Hospital of Saint-Etienne, France, with an attack rate of 38.5% in the elderly (70 infected from 182 patients) and of 26.0% in the nursing staff (40 infected from 154 agents). The outbreak lasted 30 days with a peak corresponding to 79.8% of the cases between the 11(th) and the 20(th) of November. The first cases were observed in the two short-term-care wards; then, the outbreak spread rapidly to 3 of the 4 long-term care u…