Can Norovirus Be Contracted from Eating Raw Oysters?

Winter is the peak season for norovirus. Recently, there have been many cases of norovirus infection caused by eating raw oysters in South Korea, and norovirus has been detected in shellfish farms in many places, which has aroused great concern in South Korea.

In South Korea, people like to eat oysters raw to taste their original taste, especially in winter when they are at their richest.

However, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDC) said that people in many parts of South Korea have recently experienced vomiting and diarrhea caused by eating raw oysters. The main cause is the detection of norovirus in shellfish such as oysters. According to the latest figures, the number of norovirus cases in South Korea has exceeded 200 this month, with young people in their 20s and 30s accounting for nearly half.

To this, south Korean Marine fisheries agency respectively in the near future also to the national home oyster farms were tested, the result found with past only waters in the south of Han Guotong camp, koje farms appear, such as viruses, also for the first time this year in the west of zhong qing south road and incheon area to detect the virus, and showed a trend of spreading across the country.

South Korean Marine fisheries agency speculate that this may be related to rainfall last year led to the more the more than on land, such as virus with rainwater flows into the sea, for production and processing enterprises in ensuring oyster safety delay before shipment, at the same time, strict regulation related businesses in the oyster products logo on the label “heating cooking food” again after sales, to remind consumers not to eat raw.

South Korean oysters are not only popular among local people, but also exported overseas. Reporters also immediately contacted the relevant departments, the person in charge said it was not clear whether the oysters infected with norovirus had been exported to the Chinese market.