Larry, the projectile vomiting robot helping a British team learn to stop the spread of norovirus

Larry the 'humanoid vomiting system' is helping a British team find out how far infections can reach

He is primed with fluorescent 'vomitus substitute' so researchers can distinguish even small splashes

A million people in Britain are thought to have suffered from norovirus this year, and many more across the world



British scientists have designed a projectile vomiting robot to help them to study how norovirus, the nauseating sickness sweeping the country, is being transmitted.

Larry the 'humanoid vomiting system' has been puking continuously for weeks at the Health and Safety Laboratory in Derbyshire so scientists can see how far his splashes of sick fly.

Developed by researcher Catherine Mackison, his projections are easy to spot because they are primed with a fluorescent 'vomitus substitute' to help distinguish even small splashes.

Scroll down for video of Larry in full flow

Larry the vomiting robot: Scientists at the Health and Safety Laboratory in Derbyshire are using their 'humanoid vomiting system' to study how far norovirus infected sick can be projected

But in the real world, with norovirus so infectious one expert has described it as 'the Ferrari of the virus world', contamination is much more difficult track.

'Norovirus is one of the most infectious viruses of man,' said Ian Goodfellow, a professor of virology at the department of pathology at Britain's University of Cambridge, who has been studying noroviruses for 10 years.

'It takes fewer than 20 virus particles to infect someone. So each droplet of vomit or gram of faeces from an infected person can contain enough virus to infect more than 100,000 people.'

Norovirus is hitting hard this year - and earlier too. In Britain so far this season, more than a million people are thought to have suffered the violent vomiting and diarrhoea it can bring.

First identified more than 40 years ago, norovirus takes it name from the U.S. city of Norwalk, Ohio, where there was an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis in school children in November 1968.

Symptoms include a sudden onset of vomiting, which can be projectile, and diarrhoea, which may be profuse and watery.

Some victims also suffer fevers, headaches and stomach cramps.

John Harris, an expert on the virus at the Health Protection Agency, puts it simply: 'Norovirus is very contagious and very unpleasant.'

He's sick, so you need not be: Developed by researcher Catherine Mackison, his projections are easy to spot because they are primed with a fluorescent 'vomitus substitute' to help distinguish even small splashes

Highly infectious: However, in the real world, with norovirus so infectious one expert has described it as 'the Ferrari of the virus world', contamination is much more difficult track

Epidemic: In Britain so far this season, more than a million people are thought to have suffered from norovirus

Dribbling: Symptoms are a sudden onset of vomiting, often projectile, and diarrhoea, which may be profuse and watery. Some victims also suffer fevers, headaches and stomach cramps

But what makes norovirus such a formidable enemy is its ability to evade death from cleaning and to survive long periods outside a human host.



Scientists have found it can remain alive and well for 12 hours on hard surfaces and up to 12 days on contaminated fabrics such as carpets and upholstery.

In still water, it can survive for months, maybe even years.

Add the fact that norovirus is particularly resistant to normal household disinfectants and even alcohol hand gels, and it's little wonder it wreaks such havoc in hospitals, schools, nursing homes, cruise ships and hotels.

During the two weeks up to December 23, there were 70 hospital outbreaks of norovirus reported in Britain, and last week a cruise ship that sails between New York and Southampton docked in the Caribbean with about 200 people on board suffering suspected norovirus.

Hardy: Scientists have found norovirus can remain alive and well for 12 hours on hard surfaces and up to 12 days on contaminated fabrics such as carpets and upholstery. In still water, it can survive for months or years

The good news, for some, is that not everyone appears to be susceptible to the virus. According to Professor Goodfellow, around 20 per cent of Europeans have a mutation in a gene called FUT2 that makes them resistant.

The rest will have to wait for the results of trials of a potential vaccine developed by U.S. drugmaker LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals, or from one of several teams around the world working on possible new antiviral drugs to treat the infection.

Early tests in 2011 indicated that around half of people vaccinated with the experimental shot, now owned by Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical, were protected from symptomatic norovirus infection.

The bad news, virologists say, is that the virus changes constantly, making it a moving target for drug developers. There is also evidence that humans' immune response to infection is short-lived, so people can become re-infected by the same virus within just a year or two.

'One of the reasons norovirus spreads so fast is that the majority of people don't wash their hands for long enough' Professor Ian Goodfellow, norovirus expert at Oxford University

'There are many strains, and the virus changes very rapidly - it undergoes something virologists call genetic drift,' Mr Harris said in a telephone interview.

'When it makes copies of itself, it makes mistakes in those copies - so each time you encounter the virus you may be encountering a slightly different one.'

This means that even if a vaccine were to be fully developed - still a big 'if' - it would probably need to be tweaked and repeated in a slightly different formula each year to prevent people getting sick.

Until effective drugs or vaccines are developed, experts reckon that like the common cold, norovirus will be an unwelcome guest for many winters to come.

Their advice is to stay away from anyone with the virus, and use soap and water liberally.

'One of the reasons norovirus spreads so fast is that the majority of people don't wash their hands for long enough,' said Professor Goodfellow.

'We'd suggest people count to 15 while washing their hands and ensure their hands are dried completely.'

Now watch Larry in action at the Health and Safety Laboratory