Norovirus

I wonder if that is what St. Joe Sylvania students have?

That's what the school officials have told us so far. I assume we'll get further official word after the health department concludes its investigation.

Whatever name you call it, it is awful.

Knocked everyone in my family on our butts, and we are generally in very good health. If it made us this miserable, I can only imagine how dangerous it is when there is an outbreak in a nursing home!

Hang in there mom2. Best wishes.

Ugh, Noro is a nasty, nasty illness. If there can be any cosolation, Noro tends to be a quick-hitting bug that runs its course in a few days.

I last contracted this God-awful virus about two years ago. I woke up about 6:00 feeling... not right, but not exactly sick. 30 minutes later I drank some ginger ale to settle my stomach, and that's when all hell broke loose. I think I chucked for six straight hours, and every single time I tried to get even a sip of water in me, VAVOOM! The vomiting tapered off after about 12 hours, but this was one of those debilitating illnesses that makes you just about completely incapacitated.

It was so bad I had to crawl around my house on my hands and knees to do things like let the dogs out (unfortunately my wife was on a weekend trip to Chicago with friends). It was about two days before I could eat anything, and maybe four days before something like "normal" returned.

One small bonus: I think I dropped about 5-6 pounds over the course of the sickness, and my 36-inch waist pants hung loosely on my frame for the first time in a while.

That sounds about right, historymike. Right down to the part about needing to crawl around the house. Sigh.

I'm starting to feel more human in the past few hours, but I find that even something simple like walking to the kitchen for a glass of water exhausts me. However, I need to stand up periodically, because my back is getting really sore from basically laying down for 2 days straight. Sigh.

Waiting to feel up to speed so I can disinfect all the hard surfaces in our home to prevent reinfection.

I had heard of the virus before, but didn't fully realize just how incapacitating it could be. (Thank god its only temporary...)

Yikes! mom2 - take it easy until you're tip-top.

Trying to imagine my DH and I taking turns crawling to the back door to let the dogs out. When you're on the floor in our house with the dogs they think its Plaaaay Tiiiime. Plus an 18lb cat continually hurtles himself over and through the herd in an attempt to get outside. Oh My God.

mom2 how did you ever manage? Please Get Well!!!

Are there any respiratory issues with this virus, or is it all pretty much GI system related?

I wonder if it spread that fast with so many people - could it been transmitted through the lunch room?

From the CDC page on Norovirus:

Noroviruses (genus Norovirus, family Caliciviridae) are a group of related, single-stranded RNA, non-enveloped viruses that cause acute gastroenteritis in humans. The most common symptoms of acute gastroenteritis are diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain. Norovirus is the official genus name for the group of viruses previously described as “Norwalk-like viruses” (NLV).

Noroviruses spread from person to person, through contaminated food or water, and by touching contaminated surfaces. Norovirus is recognized as the leading cause of foodborne-disease outbreaks in the United States. Outbreaks can happen to people of all ages and in a variety of settings.

Myself and a nice size portion of where I work have been sick this week. This is the 2nd or 3rd wave of sicknesses this season. Normally have 1-2 the entire winter, so it's not looking good.

Hope you feel better mom2. If I could teleport you some Chicken soup I would.

my 90-yr-old mother in law lives in Sylvania and was sick for 3 days before she told anyone. she's a diabetic and was out of control before she had the strength to test. she's been pretty independent living alone until now. she cried as my hub and his sister were cleaning her up and cleaning her tiny apartment...'now I know why people go into nursing homes.' she knows no school children and had no contact with any in any way. people, stop going to the grocery store sick!!!

nana: would like to add if at all possible don't go to works sick. It's hard where I work, but in most places all it takes is a workaholic going in sick, to making many people ill. From a business perspective it's better to have 1 person down, than an entire team at 1/2 steam or out completely at home.

I had it about four years ago. I was sitting in the lunchroom at work and suddenly it hit me. I never made it to the bathroom across the hall. Someone took me home just in time before it started coming out both ends. I've never been so sick in my life. After two days of no food or liquids, my daughter insisted on taking me to the hospital. I was out of it. I'm a type I diabetic and was too sick to check my blood sugar, take insulin, or even care. I went off to the ER in my jammies, and when they checked my sugar it was off the charts. That earned me a nice little room upstairs and all the IV drips a girl could want until they got me stabilized a couple days later.

INC, I agree. I've worked in a hospital medical records dept for 17 years. We get docked if we use sick days without filling out FMLA papers, so a LOT of people come to work sick. I work at home now, have for the last 3 years, and haven't been sick since I came home, so there you go.

Shortysmom, that's how Mom described, it hit fast and hard and nasty. I need to go look up the incubation period, The Hub has been over there most of the last 3 days. ugh, SO don't want to get this.

I take it norovirus is not the same as the flu? Or will the flu shot help you avoid it?

NO, the flu shot is for respiratory flu, or influenza, this is gastrointestinal, nothing helps but to stay home and get thru it. Some info:

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr6003a1.htm?s_cid=rr6003a1_e

I think the incubation period is 24-48 hours.

I started having the worst symptoms about 48 hours after my son first threw up. However, I was feeling run down and exhausted for at least a day before first upchuck.

Missed 3 days of work last week & the kids missed 3 days of school. Will be nice to get back to the normal routine on Monday! All 3 of us are feeling much better now. Not sure about my husband yet - he's still in bed.

I'm in the midst of Operation Disinfection now. My kids think it smells like a swimming pool in here. Lol. (The CDC fact sheet said that the virus responds best to chorine-based cleaners so I have plenty of bleach on hand.)

ok, well, he was first exposed Wednesday and he's not sick yet, so that's good news.

Thanks, mom2, glad you guys are over it. My grandsons had the respiratory flu for the last 2 weeks, and the youngest is here overnight this weekend, coughing his head off, so we may have been hit on both fronts, we'll see. man, I really hate being sick. I've been lucky for 3 years, hope it continues.