Lake Garda full

Storms could be to blame for norovirus outbreak

Holidaymakers and locals alike are affected by the norovirus outbreak on Lake Garda.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/AFP, stock.adobe.com)

Hundreds of people, holidaymakers and locals alike, are currently affected by the norovirus outbreak on Lake Garda. The use of tap water is largely impossible. There is now an initial assumption as to how such an outbreak could have occurred. 

Noroviruses spread via contaminated water or food, and infections from person to person are also possible. In the past few days, 300 people from Torri del Benaco have been admitted to hospital. "Half the town is suffering from gastrointestinal complaints," wrote one resident on Facebook.

Nausea, vomiting and diarrhea
50 people were admitted to the emergency rooms of the hospitals in Peschiera del Garda, Villafranca, Bussolengo and Malcesine due to symptoms of gastroenteritis such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. No one had to be hospitalized afterwards.

Other people contacted general practitioners or local pharmacies due to similar symptoms. The local health authorities then imposed a ban on the use of water from the mains as drinking water. Water bottles were distributed in the affected villages. 

Contamination due to storms?
There is now also a theory about the origin of the outbreak. It is suspected that the sewage system is overloaded and that the contamination was caused by the recent flooding. The sewage could have been washed into Lake Garda. After heavy rainfall, the lake is currently carrying significantly more water than usual at this time of year.

The water supply problems are also causing difficulties, especially in the fully booked hotels, which have had to obtain water for their customers. The wave of gastroenteritis did not spare the local council of Torri del Benaco either. Several officials and local police officers were absent due to nausea and police officers from other municipalities had to help out.

A similar gastroenteritis outbreak occurred last April in the mountain town of Ponte di Legno in the Lombardy province of Brescia, where traces of norovirus were found in the drinking water. However, the number of infected people was kept within limits at the time.