Doctors have begun trials for the world’s first mRNA vaccine against the deadly vomiting bug norovirus, which hopes to bring huge health and economic benefits, in the UK. Norovirus is a common, yet highly contagious virus – which causes nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea. It has symptoms similar to stomach flu - but with different causes.
According to experts, norovirus spreads easily through close contact or on contaminated food or surfaces. Also known as the ‘winter bug’ - the virus is linked to thousands of hospital admissions across the world. The jab, which uses mRNA technology - the same used in COVID-19 jabs – informs tell the immune system to recognize a "foreign" protein in viruses and mount an attack.
In this case, it targets three strains of norovirus. Doctors said even though most people recover from the infection within two to three days, the virus is very serious, particularly for younger children or the elderly who have an underdeveloped or weakened immune system. According to Dr.
Patrick Moore, the national chief investigator for the trial in the UK, ay at present there have been no approved vaccines for norovirus in the world, while people who become very ill were simply given intravenous fluids. “The burden of the bug was huge, with about 685m cases and 200,000 deaths globally each year. In the UK it is thought there are about 4m norovirus cases annually, with 12,000 hospitalizations a year in England alone,” he told The Guardian.
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