It’s that time of year again, and most regions are reporting massive increases in winter vomiting (Norovirus) virus outbreaks.

Norovirus is a particularly infectious agent. It is transmitted directly from person to person and indirectly via contaminated water and food. Transmission through the faecal-oral can be aerosolised as well as by indirect contact when those suffering from the infection vomit, often violently, and when the virus is aerosolised while flushing the toilet. Infection can follow eating food or breathing air near an episode of vomiting, even if cleaned up.

Solid waste volumes increase dramatically during an outbreak. These are mostly wet wastes and standard plastic waste sacks may be inadequate as the closure will be insufficient to prevent leakage. The outside of these containers are likely to be contaminated, and as sacks are manhandled aerosolisation of their content is quite likely.

Inadequacies in hand and personal hygiene for watste handlers increase the likelihood of infection. Cases have been reported among waste handlers collecting wastes from sites experiencing a Norovirus outbreak.

Norovirus is resistant to drying, and is reported to persist on environmental surfaces for up to 12 days. Risk assessment would suggest that these wastes are high risk for infection and should be managed accordingly. However, the growing tendency to down-regulation of waste categorisation suggests that this is unlikely. If that entails handling of these wastes with lesser care, or if standards of waste management and hygiene of waste handlers is less than perfect then infections among waste handlers will be most likely.