A highly contagious diarrheal illness is on the rise in parts of the Bay Area, with multiple cities recording increasing levels of the virus in wastewater in recent weeks.
Rotavirus, a gastrointestinal virus, causes diarrhea and vomiting. Although usually mild, the disease can be dangerous for young children, hospitalizing 50,000 to 70,000 of them and causing between 20 and 60 deaths annually, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While more common in children, the virus can infect anyone and is most commonly seen in winter and spring.
In the Bay Area, many cities had peak levels of rotavirus in wastewater in April and May, followed by a downward trend.
But starting in mid-June, just around the time the World Cup kicked off on June 11, levels of rotavirus started to increase again in some places. Multiple waste treatment plants — including those in Redwood City, San Jose and Vallejo — show the levels of the virus elevated in recent weeks, although not reaching peak spring levels, according to data from WastewaterSCAN.
“When lots of humans get together they can spread infectious diseases,” Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at UC San Francisco, told SFGATE. “And the three major routes of transmission [are] respiratory, fecal-oral GI illnesses like rotavirus, and then sexually transmitted infections.”
While it’s not known if these viral levels found in the wastewater signal an outbreak among World Cup fans, Gandhi said of her fellow public health experts, “everyone has been worried” by the surge of fans “using the same bathroom, breathing the same air.”
Gandhi pointed out that a large open-air stadium like Levi’s, along with outdoor watch parties, means respiratory disease is unlikely to spread among fans, but rotavirus unfortunately spreads via the fecal-oral route, meaning infected surfaces or food is what will make people sick.
“This absolutely sort of medically makes sense, and there may be rotavirus within festivities,” she said of the uptick in wastewater levels. “There’s really nothing to be done about this, except instructing the public about good hand washing and good food hygiene.”
Health providers in the area are currently on alert for signs of any major outbreaks. Before the start of the World Cup, the Santa Clara Public Health Department put out an advisory for physicians, asking them to be on the lookout for signs of outbreaks and ask specifically if a patient attended any games.
“Increased travel, along with associated mass gatherings, increase the risk of importation and transmission of endemic and non-endemic communicable diseases,” they wrote.
There is no cure for the disease, but most people will recover with rest and fluids. There is a vaccine for the disease that can be given to young children. While that vaccine is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics as part of routine vaccinations, the Department of Health and Human Services recently made the controversial decision to remove the vaccine from the routine schedule. Gandhi said it’s possible that part of what we’re seeing is an increase as fewer children are getting vaccinated.
“That would lead to increased rates in adult populations,” she said.
Gillian Mohney
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