Online gaming has greatly increased in popularity in recent years, and with this has come a multiplicity of problems due to excessive involvement in gaming. Gaming disorder, both online and offline, has been defined for the first time in the draft of 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). National surveys have shown prevalence rates of gaming disorder/addiction of 10%–15% among young people in several Asian countries and of 1%–10% in their counterparts in some Western countries. Several diseases related to excessive gaming are now recognized, and clinics are being established to respond to individual, family, and community concerns, but many cases remain hidden. Gaming disorder shares many features with addictions due to psychoactive substances and with gambling disorder, and functional neuroimaging shows that similar areas of the brain are activated. Governments and health agencies worldwide are seeking for the effects of online gaming to be addressed, and for preventive approaches to be developed. Central to this effort is a need to delineate the nature of the problem, which is the purpose of the definitions in the draft of ICD-11.

The proposed introduction of gaming disorder (GD) in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) has led to a lively debate over the past year. Besides the broad support for the decision in the academic press, a recent publication by van Rooij et al. (2018) repeated the criticism raised against the inclusion of GD in ICD-11 by Aarseth et al. (2017). We argue that this group of researchers fails to recognize the clinical and public health considerations, which support the WHO perspective. It is important to recognize a range of biases that may influence this debate; in particular, the gaming industry may wish to diminish its responsibility by claiming that GD is not a public health problem, a position which maybe supported by arguments from scholars based in media psychology, computer games research, communication science, and related disciplines. However, just as with any other disease or disorder in the ICD-11, the decision whether or not to include GD is based on clinical evidence and public health needs. Therefore, we reiterate our conclusion that including GD reflects the essence of the ICD and will facilitate treatment and prevention for those who need it.

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Noroviruses (Norwalk-like viruses) are recognized as major causes of acute gastroenteritis worldwide. Outbreaks of norovirus gastroenteritis are often associated with consumption of oysters. In this study, oysters imported into Hong Kong from 11 countries over a 3-year period were screened by RT-PCR. Overall, 53 out of 507 (10.5%) samples were positive for norovirus-RNA, and a wide variety of strains were found. Two novel genetic clusters were detected, which could indicate novel human or animal norovirus strains. However, whether these two new clusters are of human or animal origin is not known. Thirteen outbreaks, in which oysters were implicated as the source of infection were investigated: Norovirus RNA sequences could be detected in oysters from six outbreaks, but only in one outbreak the strains isolated from patients and oysters matched (>98% homology). Therefore, RT-PCR was of use in detecting norovirus contamination of oysters implicated in an outbreak, but was less useful in demonstrating an actual molecular epidemiological link with human cases. It was shown that contamination by noroviruses could be demonstrated in oysters worldwide, and therefore oysters may serve as an important vehicle for introducing novel norovirus strains.