Study Analyzes Nearly 5,000 Acute Gastroenteritis Outbreaks, Finds Most Spread by Person-to-person Transmission

A study analyzed 4,756 school and child care acute gastroenteritis outbreaks in the United States reported through the National Outbreak Reporting System during 2009–2020. Most of the outbreaks were caused by norovirus or Shigella spp. and were spread via person-to-person transmission, the study found. The study, “Childcare and School Acute Gastroenteritis Outbreaks: 2009–2020,” which will be published in the November 2022 issue of Pediatrics (published online Oct. 24), found that most (85.7%) of the outbreaks were spread via person-to-person contact and that far fewer outbreaks (123) were reported in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. Schools and child care centers are common settings for gastroenteritis outbreaks, accounting for a median of 457 outbreaks and 15,779 cases per year in the United States from 2009–2019. Outbreak prevention and control in these settings should focus on handwashing, cleaning, and disinfection with effective products, and ill children and staff members should be required to stay home, the authors conclude.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.