Have the Stomach Flu? 4 Ways to Treat Symptoms at Home

There’s almost nothing worse than being bent over a toilet throwing up. And, sadly, it can be hard to know what caused you to be there in the first place. Kelli Miller, ANP, UnityPoint Health, lists the symptoms of the stomach flu and how long it lasts, plus ways to feel better, so you can get out of the bathroom and get back to normal.

Stomach Flu Symptoms

Miller says it’s easy to get confused about the difference between influenza, or “the flu,” and gastroenteritis, better known as “the stomach flu.” The stomach flu is caused by a number of viruses, mainly norovirus, which accounts for more than 50 percent of all cases, and others, like rotavirus. Bacteria, such salmonella and E. coli, can also be to blame. Getting the flu shot does not prevent you from getting the stomach flu, but it does prevent you from getting influenza.

“Stomach flu symptoms include stomach pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea,” Miller says. “A low-grade fever, chills and muscle aches aren’t uncommon to experience as well. Symptoms can start as little as 12 hours after exposure.”

These symptoms can last anywhere from one to 14 days, and unfortunately, the stomach flu is extremely contagious.

“The stomach flu is spread by the fecal-oral route, which means the viruses from infected feces or vomit find their way into our mouths from either touching a contaminated surface and then touching your face or eating/drinking contaminated foods and/or water. Compared to other viruses, noroviruses can live for days on household surfaces, which is why they spread easily,” Miller says.

Stomach Flu vs. Food Poisoning

Miller says the clinical symptoms of the stomach flu and food poisoning overlap quite a bit, as you can have vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal discomfort and fever with either one. She says the easiest way to determine the cause of your discomfort is to look back at your recent history.

“If your symptoms are caused by food poisoning, they tend to occur within hours after eating something. If you can recall eating something questionable, or if others who ate the same thing as you and have similar symptoms, you probably have food poisoning. If you are the only one who got sick, you more than likely picked up a viral illness,” Miller says. 

Stomach Flu vs. COVID-19

To make matters even more confusing, some people with COVID-19 (about 20% according to studies) experience stomach issues including nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhea. Most people with those symptoms usually report developing them in the first couple of days and then go on to experience other respiratory or cold-like symptoms like fever, headache, cough and fatigue.

If you experience nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhea, keep an eye out for other symptoms that may follow. If you notice a progression in the illness, talk with your doctor about getting tested for COVID-19. Remember, if you’re feeling sick, stay home and continue to wash your hands frequently.

How to Treat the Stomach Flu at Home

Miller says there’s often no specific medical treatment for viral gastroenteritis. Antibiotics aren’t effective against viruses and overusing them can contribute to the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. She recommends treating the stomach flu with the following self-care steps:

• Keep drinking the right fluids. You’ll need to drink enough fluids to prevent dehydration. In addition to water, older children and adults can drink sports drinks, like Gatorade, Power Aid, while babies and young children can have an oral rehydration solution, such as Pedialyte. If your child is vomiting, you can try to give your child a few teaspoons of fluid every few minutes. Babies who breastfeed can continue to breastfeed. But, you should avoid drinks with increased sugar content, such as juices or sodas, which can make diarrhea worse.
• Eat the right foods. If you don’t have an appetite, you should resort to drinking only liquids for a short period of time. Boiled starches (potatoes, noodles, rice, wheat and oats) and plain cereals with salt are recommended, if you have watery diarrhea. You may also try crackers, bananas, soup and boiled vegetables.
• Avoid heavy foods. On the other hand, you should avoid certain foods until you are feeling better. These include dairy products, caffeine, alcohol, nicotine and fatty or highly-seasoned foods.
• Get plenty of rest. The illness or dehydration can make you feel tired.

“Adults under 65 years old with a new bout of diarrhea, with no fever or blood in bowel movements, can take medicine to stop diarrhea, such as loparmide (Imodium) or bismuth subsalicyclate (Pepto Bismal) for one to two days, if they’re not allergic to these medications. Children and adults over the age of 65 should check with their health care provider before taking any over-the-counter medicines,” Miller says.

As contagious as it is, keeping your family from catching the stomach flu can be tricky. Miller offers these tips to protect against the viral infections that cause gastroenteritis:

• Immunize little ones. Infants can be immunized with the rotavirus vaccine. This is offered at 2, 4 and 6 months old during well-child visits.
• Simply wash your hands. Wash your hands often to stop the spread of germs. Hand sanitizer works after being in public as well.
• Give your home the once-over. Use household cleaning products to disinfect surfaces and objects, like countertops, doorknobs, handles, sinks, toilets, computer keyboards and phones.
• Separate your laundry loads. Wash laundry of those recovering from the stomach flu in different loads than the rest of your family.
• Keep your distance. Try to keep your children, especially newborns, away from anyone who is sick. If someone in your family is sick, stay home and do not go to work, school or day care. You should be symptom-free for 48 hours before returning.

When the Stomach Flu Requires a Doctor

While most stomach illnesses pass on their own, there are cases when medical attention is necessary. Miller recommends watching for signs of severe dehydration:

• Increased thirst
• Dry mouth
• Headache
• Confusion
• Increased heart rate over 100 beats per minute
• Increased breathing rate
• Dizziness, including when standing from a sitting or laying position
• Passing out
• Fatigue
• Dark yellow or amber colored urine
• No urination within the past six to eight hours (during the day)

In addition to severe dehydration, Miller also says the following are causes for concern, and if you experience these, contact your provider:

• Bloody stool/rectal bleeding or blood in vomit
• Vomiting for more than 24 hours
• Fever greater than 104 degrees
• Weight loss
• Severe abdominal pain
• Prolonged symptoms lasting more than a week
• Are currently pregnant

Lastly, call your baby’s doctor right away if your baby:

• Has vomiting lasting several hours
• Hasn’t had a wet diaper in six hours
• Has bloody stools or severe diarrhea
• Has a sunken soft spot (fontanel) on the top of his or her head
• Has a dry mouth or cries without tears
• Is unusually sleepy, drowsy or unresponsive

If any of these symptoms are present, evaluation by a health care professional is needed right away, and IV hydration may need to be administered or possible admission to the hospital.

Norovirus

Category: Infections and Parasites

Topic: Viral Infections

Noroviruses are a group of viruses that can cause gastroenteritis (inflammation of the stomach and intestines) with diarrhoea, stomach pain and vomiting. Common names used for gastroenteritis due to Norovirus are ‘gastric flu’ or ‘stomach flu’, ‘winter vomiting’ and ‘viral gastro’.

Noroviruses are found in the faeces or vomit of infected people. People can become infected with the virus in several ways, including:

• eating food or drinking liquids that are contaminated with Norovirus
• touching surfaces or objects contaminated with Norovirus, and then placing their hand in their mouth
• small airborne particles from projectile vomiting
• having direct contact with another person who is infected and showing symptoms (for example, when caring for someone with illness, or sharing foods or eating utensils with someone who is ill).

Anyone can become infected with these viruses. There are many different strains of Norovirus, which makes it difficult for a person’s body to develop long-lasting immunity.

Norovirus illness can recur throughout a person’s lifetime.

People working in day-care centres or nursing homes should pay special attention to children or residents who have Norovirus illness. This virus is very contagious and can spread rapidly throughout such environments.

Signs and Symptoms: 

Symptoms of Norovirus illness usually begin about 24 to 48 hours after ingestion of the virus, but they can appear as early as 12 hours after exposure.

The symptoms of norovirus illness usually include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and some stomach cramping. Sometimes people also have a low-grade fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, and a general sense of tiredness. The illness often begins suddenly and the infected person may feel very sick. The illness is usually brief, with symptoms lasting only about 1 or 2 days, but can last longer. In general, children experience more vomiting than adults.

Treatment: 

Currently, there is no antiviral medication that works against norovirus and there is no vaccine to prevent infection. Norovirus infection cannot be treated with antibiotics. This is because antibiotics work to fight bacteria and not viruses.

Norovirus illness is usually brief in healthy individuals. When people are ill with vomiting and diarrhoea, they should rest and drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration. Dehydration is the most serious health effect that can result from Norovirus infection, and it is a particular concern in young children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems.

Prevention: 

Noroviruses are very contagious and can spread easily from person to person. Both faeces and vomit are infectious. Particular care should be taken with young children in nappies who may have diarrhoea.

People infected with Norovirus are contagious from the moment they begin feeling ill. If your job involves handling food or beverages or you are a childcare or health care worker you must not return to work until 48 hours after recovery (i.e. until 48 hours after you last vomited or 48 hours after your bowel motions return to normal), as this is generally regarded as the period when people are infectious.

The virus can be present in faeces at low levels for several weeks after recovery, so it is important for people to continue to use good handwashing and other hygienic practices.

People infected with Norovirus should not prepare food while they have symptoms and for 48 hours after they recover from their illness. Food that may have been contaminated by an ill person should be disposed of properly.

You can decrease your chance of coming in contact with noroviruses by following these preventive steps:

• frequently wash your hands, especially after toilet visits, changing nappies and before eating or preparing food
• carefully wash fruits and vegetables, and steam oysters before eating them
• flush or discard any vomit or faeces in the toilet and make sure that the surrounding area is kept clean
• use a detergent and warm water to wipe down the area where vomit was present so that no evidence of vomit is visible
• thoroughly clean and disinfect contaminated surfaces immediately after an episode of illness using detergent and water followed by a bleach-based household cleaner
• immediately remove and wash clothing or linens that may be contaminated with virus (use a hot cycle in the washing machine).

Health outcome: 

Anyone can become infected with these viruses. There are many different strains of Norovirus, which makes it difficult for a person’s body to develop long-lasting immunity. In addition, because of differences in genetic factors, some people are more likely to become infected and develop more severe illness than others.

Norovirus disease is usually not serious, although people may feel very sick and vomit many times a day. Most people get better within 1 or 2 days, and they have no long-term health effects related to their illness.

Sometimes people are unable to drink enough liquids to replace the liquids they lost because of vomiting and diarrhoea. These people can become dehydrated and may need special medical attention. This problem with dehydration is usually only seen among the very young, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems. There is no evidence to suggest that an infected person can become a long-term carrier of Norovirus.

Other resources: 

• Clean Up for Gastroenteritis Outbreak Prevention (PDF 716KB)

Help and assistance: 

For further information, please contact your local doctor, community health centre or nearest public health unit, or contact the Queensland Health information line 13HEALTH (13 432584).

If you are in an emergency situation, call 000

Stomach does not regret: doctors told about the intestinal form of “Omicron” | Articles

When infected with the Omicron coronavirus strain, nausea, diarrhea, loss of appetite develop much more often than with Delta, Russian doctors have recorded . According to the observations of specialists from the Research Institute of Gabrichevsky Rospotrebnadzor, about 30% of patients complain of frequent, watery stools. And more often than not, children suffer from such problems. In some infected people, the disease occurs exclusively in the intestinal form, without the usual cough and runny nose. In such cases, the diagnosis can be made only with the help of special tests, the doctors emphasized. Therefore, if atypical symptoms appear, it is necessary to immediately contact medical institutions, experts advised.

Got to the guts

Although there is now a decline in the incidence of coronavirus in Russia, researchers continue to analyze the symptoms of the new Omicron strain. And today there is still no accurate data on the features of its course. However, it is already known that with the spread of Omicron, gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea, diarrhea, loss of appetite) began to appear much more often than with infection with the Delta strain. This was reported to Izvestia by the Deputy Director for Clinical Work of the Moscow Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology named after V.I. G.N. Gabrichevsky Rospotrebnadzor, doctor of medical sciences Tatyana Ruzhentsova.

– With the very first Wuhan strain, we also noted many cases accompanied by diarrhea . Now there are more of them. According to our observations, about 30% of patients complain of frequent, watery stools, 4-6 times a day , she said. – Some of them, more often in children, have a decrease in appetite, nausea.

Photo: TASS/Elena Afonina

According to Tatyana Ruzhentsova, in the youngest patients the disease is often accompanied by vomiting, which is especially pronounced on the first day of illness.

At the same time, in some cases, doctors can talk about the intestinal form of the coronavirus caused by Omicron, which occurs without respiratory symptoms. Most often, the infection occurs in this way in children of the first three years of life.

– But the isolated intestinal form is rare. Most patients with severe gastrointestinal symptoms also have respiratory symptoms: redness and itching in the throat, nasal congestion and discharge, coughing, Tatyana Ruzhentsova noted.

Diagnostic difficulties

Intestinal symptoms of the disease when infected with Omicron are manifested in more than 50% of patients , Ekaterina Melnikova, head of the clinical diagnostic department of the clinical hospital on the Yauza of the Medscan Group of Companies, gastroenterologist Yekaterina Melnikova, told Izvestia.

“An objective assessment of the statistical data does not allow the fact that many patients, on their own or on the recommendation of a doctor, start taking antibacterial drugs from the first symptoms of the disease,” the specialist explained the difference in estimates of the manifestation of intestinal symptoms.

Most often, patients report episodes of recurrent diarrhea, rarely nausea, not accompanied by pain. These unpleasant effects pass within a few days, the physician said. However, in general, the Omicron strain most often manifests itself with respiratory symptoms and intoxication, she added.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Aleksey Sukhorukov

“Symptoms are possible only from the gastrointestinal tract, but this is more likely to be an exception,” said Ekaterina Melnikova. – Patients with chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract are at increased risk of exacerbation of the existing pathology against the background of a transmitted infection.

New mutations of the virus allowed it to be more contagious, and the duration and severity of the disease decreased, which also reduced the frequency of seeking medical help, Tatyana Nalegach, a therapist at the NAKFF medical clinic, told Izvestia. Therefore, it is more difficult to analyze the next rise in the incidence.

– Manifestations of “Omicron” are similar to the usual seasonal colds and flu. Brief GI symptoms occur with a range of respiratory infections such as adenovirus and rotavirus , which can be misleading. But still, most often, following from our observations, Omicron affects the respiratory system, – said Tatyana Nelegach.

As for other specific manifestations of Omicron registered in the world, these are eczema of various localizations, dry skin, urticaria, skin rash and the so-called covid fingers – cyanosis of the phalanges of the hands and feet, the experts explained.

People who often fall ill, as with the flu, suffer from headaches, chills, severe weakness, the Moscow Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology named after V. I. G.N. Gabrichevsky Rospotrebnadzor. At the same time, an accurate diagnosis can only be established with the help of special tests, the doctors emphasized. Therefore, it is imperative to contact medical institutions, experts pointed out.

Enteroviral infection

09/18/2017

Enteroviral infection is a multiple group of acute infectious diseases that can affect children and adults when infected with viruses of the Enterovirus genus. The insidiousness of the causative agents of enterovirus infection is that they can cause various forms of clinical manifestations, from mild malaise to serious damage to the central nervous system. With the development of an enterovirus infection, the symptoms are characterized by a feverish state and a wide variety of other signs caused by damage to the respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, central nervous system and other organs.

How the infection spreads:

The main route of transmission of enteroviral infection is fecal-oral .
Contact-household , through household items, contaminated hands, if personal hygiene is not observed.
Airborne if the pathogen multiplies in the respiratory tract, when coughing, sneezing.
Waterway – infection can occur when vegetables and fruits are irrigated with contaminated sewage, as well as when swimming in open contaminated water bodies, according to some reports, even water in coolers is a source of enterovirus infection.
If a pregnant woman is infected with an enteroviral infection, a vertical route of the pathogen’s transmission to the child is also possible.

Enterovirus infection is characterized by summer-autumn seasonality, a person has a very high natural susceptibility, and after the illness, type-specific immunity is maintained for several years.
The incubation period of any enteroviral infections is no more than 2-7 days.

All diseases that can be caused by enteroviruses according to the severity of the inflammatory process can be conditionally divided into 2 groups:0077 Serious diseases
These include acute paralysis, hepatitis, serous meningitis in children and adults, pericarditis, myocarditis, neonatal septic-like diseases, any chronic infections in HIV-infected people (HIV infection: symptoms, stages).
Less severe diseases
Conjunctivitis, three-day fever without rash or with rash, herpangina, vesicular pharyngitis, pleurodynia, uveitis, gastroenteritis. Enterovirus D68 may present with severe cough and bronchopulmonary obstruction.

Symptoms:

Signs of SARS . Children develop perspiration, sore throat, sometimes runny nose, cough, fever. The temperature is high at the first stages, then decreases and after 2-3 days it jumps sharply again. This phenomenon is called “enterovirus fever”. It lasts, as a rule, 3 days, the child will feel unwell. During this period, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea sometimes appear, which can stop abruptly.

Rash . This manifestation of the disease is called “exanthema”. A rash appears on the second day after the temperature rises. As a rule, it is localized on the neck, legs, arms, face, back, chest. Outwardly, it looks like small red dots on the skin, identical to the manifestation of measles. Sometimes the rash is localized in the mouth, throat, looks like bubbles filled with liquid, which then turn into sores.

Muscle pain . Enterovirus infection in some cases affects muscle tissue. It is localized more often in the chest, abdomen, much less often in the back, arms, legs. Deterioration of the condition is manifested by movement, the pain has a paroxysmal character. The duration can be several minutes and up to half an hour. If you do not start timely therapy, muscle pain will become chronic.

Diarrhea, vomiting. Often manifested in children under 2 years of age when the body is affected by an enterovirus infection. Sometimes the symptom is accompanied by bloating, pain. Diarrhea can last for several days. The main task of parents during this period is to restore fluid deficiency in time.

Additional symptoms of enterovirus infection:
drowsiness, lethargy;
abdominal pain;
loss of appetite;
swelling of the extremities;
general malaise;
dehydration;
conjunctivitis, redness of the eyes, lacrimation;
enlargement of the lymph nodes.

In healthy adults with strong immunity, enterovirus infection cannot develop to severe pathological processes, and most often it is completely asymptomatic, which cannot be said about small children, especially newborns and adults weakened by other diseases, such as HIV infection, oncological diseases, tuberculosis.

To prevent the disease of enterovirus infection, it is necessary to observe preventive measures:

Use guaranteed safe water and drinks (boiled water and drinks in factory packaging).
Eat foods that have been heat treated.
Thoroughly wash fruits and vegetables with safe water and then rinse with boiling water.
When swimming in ponds and pools, do not allow water to enter the oral cavity.
Follow the basic rules of personal hygiene.
You should avoid visiting mass events, places with a large number of people (public transport, cinemas, etc.).
Wet cleaning of residential premises is recommended at least 2 times a day, ventilation of premises.