Do you avoid seeing people who have just had gastro-enteritis?

[dontknowwhatthisis]

We're due to see family tomorrow and heard today that one family member has diarrhoea and vomiting. They're still planning to get together tomorrow as long as he is feeling well enough to travel (last text said "should be fine as he is getting better now"). He was still being poorly last night.

I've always subscribed to the 48 hours rule - don't mix with others or send kids back to nursery until 48 hours after symptoms have stopped. This is what's advised by the NHS as you can still be highly infectious otherwise. It will be less than 48 hours since he has been ill if we do go to see them. I have 3 young kids and this is the first proper time off work my husband has had all year. I imagine us all getting it one by one and me spending the next week washing sheets and sitting up at night with poorly children. I am a bit over-anxious about sickness bugs, but just the thought of sitting down eating a meal with someone I know has been vomiting 24 hours before is making my skin crawl. This person is usually involved with food prep as well so it's not just a case of avoiding kissing him, etc.

Would this bother you and if so what would you say? I have found when it's pointed out to people that they may be spreading gastroenteritis around and that you'd rather not see them, that they can get really offended. I don't get it. Why don't people just follow the 48 hour rule and avoid spreading it around? Is it OK for us not to go to the family meet up? (we can see most of them another time, but this will be the only chance to all get together and it may be another 6 months before we see them all together again).

No... I wouldn't go and i would say why as well. Why put ypurself at risk and the children... Having said that they could pick it up elsewhere but I would not knowingly expose them to it....and hope they diddn't pick it up.

I would give it a miss. We were meant to seemy side if the family today, it's rare we all catch-up and I was really excited, but DD1 vommed twice in the night do we have cancelled. She seems fine now but there is no way of risk the health of others by taking her along.

It depends - it's not so important for adults to isolate themselves if they are scrupulous about hand washing, wear clean clothes and are not involved in food prep and I assume the gathering isn't in the house where they've had the bug.

I wouldn't visit. Just because they feel better doesn't mean they're cleared up. I had gastritis a few years ago and the D&V symptoms passed on to my dd as I was breastfeeding at the time so I of course stopped breastfeeding as soon as I knew what it was. It's not worth the risk and you don't want a home full of sick people for 2 weeks!

I wouldn't go either. I know some family members would consider that precious but I don't care. Obviously if more people adhered to the guidelines these sickness bugs would be far more contained.
Preparing food for others under these circumstances is crazy.

Mrscog, thank you, but the NHS say don't go back to work until 48 hours have passed to avoid passing it on, so I presume it is also important for adults to isolate themselves?

Printscreen, Rosa, and DonnaLyman, how would you phrase it when telling them you won't be coming? It's just assumed that we will still come, and I suspect it is not going to go down well if I decide that we're not.

I also feel bad for my kids who are really looking forward to seeing their cousins for the first time in ages :(

Oh - the advice must have changed then -it used to be 48 hours for food prep, and caring (obviously). Some a lot of work places don't have it as a rule. Faecal/oral transmission is the main way, so theoretically if the person is scruplous with hygeiene (and there is no way of knowing whether they have or haven't been) the risks are low - for instance if the person breathed on you, you wouldn't catch it, even if they were in the 48 hour window.