The NBA And Noroviruses

Photo from Bay View Compass via Flickr

Gastroenteritis (stomach inflammation) is a terrible, terrible thing. I know a thing or two about it. Diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps are common enough symptoms in everyday illnesses and prescription medication. Common enough for us to dismiss the trio of discomforts as something more or less unavoidable nuisances. But gastroenteritis is more than just a one-time deal. Gastroenteritis has you trapped in your bathroom chamber, afraid to leave. So you sit down or kneel over, just waiting for it all to be purged. But illnesses hardly ever comply with your schedule. And whether you’re sick for a day, two days, or two weeks is left to the virus. It saps your energy, your time, and your ability to function outside a 10-foot radius of a restroom.

I’m sure players like Dwight Howard know this well. In a recent report published by Clinical Infectious Diseases (CID), 13 NBA teams had players and staff members suffering from gastroenteritis in December 2010. The report makes sense of a rather mysterious bug that ravaged the Orlando Magic roster early last season, forcing Howard and other players to sit out of a back-to-back on Dec. 3-4 due to “stomach illness.” The culprit? Noroviruses.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the norovirus is defined as “a highly contagious illness caused by infection with a virus called norovirus. It is often called by other names, such as viral gastroenteritis, stomach flu, and food poisoning.” Noroviruses can be spread through contaminated food and drink, as well as objects that have also been contaminated. Clearly the object in mind for this specific outbreak is a basketball. But considering how much time a team can spend together in enclosed locations, the virus could have been spread at any point.

More from the report:

The 13 NBA teams with cases played a total of 49 games against one another during the study period. Two of these games were identified as potential team-to-team transmission events. In these events, both donor teams (teams D and F) had cases with laboratory-confirmed norovirus infection. All 4 NBA staff members and players on the 2 recipient teams (teams E and G) that developed gastroenteritis within 72 hours after the game reported no similar illness in their households during the week before their illness onset (Figure 1; online only)

via Transmission of Norovirus Among NBA Players and Staff, Winter 2010–2011 | CID

CID’s research also notes that a 10-year analysis of NBA injury reports has shown that “gastrointestinal illness represented the second most common non-game-related injury or illness among players.”

Of course, playing through illness and injury is a mark of toughness and resilience, something to be admired. But playing through norovirus-induced gastroenteritis has enormous consequences that affect more than just the suffering individual. When games eventually start, players will surely storm courts with fervor. With so many games lost already, it’s understandable for players to want to make up for lost time. But, as seen by the depleted Magic roster last December, when you’re sick, you’re sick. There’s no use toughing it out if you’re only going to take your teammates out with you.

So, yeah. Wash your hands obsessively. Or else start purchasing books you’ve always wanted to read. You’ll need all of them when the norovirus strikes you.