Cruise ship operators have gained significant insight into the scourge of the dreaded norovirus, via a research project in the US where scientists created a “vomit machine”. The totally gross device (pictured) aims to answer the question of what happens to the virus which has caused so much gastrointestinal drama...
Cruise ship operators have
gained significant insight into
the scourge of the dreaded
norovirus, via a research project
in the US where scientists
created a “vomit machine”.
The totally gross device
(pictured) aims to answer the
question of what happens to the
virus which has caused so much
gastrointestinal drama on some
ill-fated voyages.
Norovirus is notorious
for spreading like wildfire,
particularly in closed
environments such as cruise
ships – but it’s not exactly clear
how it spreads, with speculation
that it is “aerosolised” when a
sufferer blows chunks.
The scientists from North
Carolina State and Wake Forest
Universities in the US used
a range of “vomit metrics”
(perhaps including the fact that
it ALWAYS contains carrots),
which allowed them to control
the “volume, viscosity and
pressure of the simulated
vomiting incidents”.
They found norovirus definitely
does have the potential to be
carried as an invisible mist by
air currents and thus to travel
“many metres and land on many
surfaces at infectious levels” –
so make sure your clients keep
their hands to themselves!
