Talk of the town：What is Norovirus ?
【明報專訊】Norovirus is a highly contagious virus that causes gastroenteritis(腸胃炎). It is a common cause of foodborne illness outbreaks, especially in settings such as cruise ships, schools, and healthcare facilities.
Norovirus can spread through contaminated food or water, close contact with an infected person, or touching surfaces or objects contaminated with the virus. Symptoms of norovirus infection typically include nausea (惡心), vomiting , diarrhea (腹瀉), and abdominal pain (腹痛). While norovirus infections are usually mild and resolve on their own, they can be severe, especially in young children, older adults, and individuals with weakened immune systems.
How to prevent Norovirus?
There are no vaccines for norovirus. Therefore, maintaining good personal and food hygiene is important to prevent norovirus infection. For example, before handling food or eating, and after using the toilet, we should wash our hands with liquid soap and water.
It is important to note that alcohol-based hand sanitizers should not be used as a substitute for soap, as alcohol cannot effectively kill such a virus. Dr. Albert Au(歐家榮), senior medical officer in the Department of Health, reminded the public that Taiwan, Singapore, and Guangdong are also in the active season for norovirus, urging the public to be cautious about their diet when traveling abroad, especially with foods like live oysters and sashimi that do not require reheating.
■Game
How do we wash our hands properly? Please arrange the following steps in order.
1. Apply soap, rub for at least 20 seconds
2. Use paper towel to turn off the faucet
3. Rinse with water
4. Dry with paper towel
5. Wet hands with water
( ___, __, __, __, ___ )
(Answers on next text)
■Gear up
1. People may take vaccines to prevent norovirus. (True/ False)
Fill in the blanks with the glossary below.
2. Don't drink that water - it might be ________ .
3. Tofu can be used as a _______ for meat in vegetarian recipes.
(Answers on next text)
■Glossary
contaminated (adj) 受污染的
mild (adj) 輕微的
weaken (v) 削弱
substitute (n) 替代品
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[Smarties' Power English 第437期]
