to think that there are far more D&V bugs around now than there were 30 years ago?

[hopskipandthump]

We've got another vomiting bug passing through the family atm - DS 2 brought it home from school where it's doing the rounds.

We seem to get one a year at least - last came via some friends we went to visit - my friend revealed after lunch (which she'd cooked) that she'd just recovered (as in yesterday) from a D&V bug, and 2 days later we all came down with it on holiday, which was fun.

Anyway, my DM says there weren't bugs like this going round in the 70s when I was little. She might be wrong, so wondering what other people's experience is? Are there more of this type of bug now and why would that be?

I think school attendance pressure has a lot to do with it

DrankSangria. I have three kids and they're never, seriously never ill. All as strong as oxen; my friend has two and they have some bug or other at least once a fortnight.
Her house is sterile to operating theatre standards, mine, well, isn't...
Coincidence, or a testament to my immunity building bacteria ridden house being a safer environment?
expat. Being cold has been proven to make people sick?

I would love to know the answer to this. My children are total vomiters - they weren't as babies but they are now. Just got over another bout of vomiting (day and night for three days so much worse than usual) but we are probably at 200 vomiting episodes altogether in the 4 years we have lived in this house (so high because DD had gastroenteritis and threw up on the hour every hour, 24 hours a day for 4 days last year) but the others are just bits and bobs of vomiting. On average once a month.

I hardly ever remember being sick as a child (unless from eating too much at a party!) but I had loads and loads of tonsillitis, ear infections and stuff like that so I was probably just as ill but in a different way.

I think it's partly just them and the way they are built. It can't be that we are excessively hygienic - we are definitely not! Might be something in the central heating thing though - I keep the house warm. But there's also something in the fact that we are all more mobile - more of us working outside the home, fewer SAHMs, more people bringing bugs home.

I just hope it's giving their immune system an amazing workout.

Temperature has a massive effect on your immunity. Being kept in less than ideal temps has been found to cause tumours in mice. My sister's lab was just published in Science and Nature

I was talking about this sort of thing with my mother earlier in the week.

I'm [almost] 28, my DSis is 25. We don't think either of us have ever had a D&V bug in our lives. I can't remember having one & neither can my mum. My DC are only 3yo & 10mo, but so far haven't had any D&V bugs either.

I've no idea why not. I had measles & mumps as a child (despite having the MMR jab), so I guess it's not like I have a superhero immune system. My DSis & I have never had chicken pox either though.

To add to the anecdotal "evidence" - we grew up in the middle of the countryside, were always out playing in the fields. Our house was always clean & tidy, but my mother doesn't disinfect things as she thinks that is bad for the immune system.

I don't remember much sickness as a kid, other than chicken pox, and chest infections (I'm asthmatic). DD (8 yo)was quite prone to chest infections when she was small and sometimes was sick with coughing then, but only one real D&V virus that I can remember and that was in the summer and I didn't catch it. Touch wood, the winter vomiting bugs that go around regularly seem to pass us by.
For the record, I never use antibacterial products and do the bare minimum of cleaning! We live in an old house so a bit draughty and I don't keep it especially warm, just put on an extra jumper.
Or maybe it's just genetics.

I don't know. My mum and I had about stomach bugs. My 2 brothers and i hardly ever got d&v - tonsillitis, yes, but not d&v! A neighbour's children were constantly getting them.

It's the same with me now. Fortunately my 4 dc hardly ever get d&v, but I have a friend round the corner whose 2 girls get it a lot.

Again, my dc are much more prone to sore throats - constant sore throats going on most of the winter!

had a chat - that's what it should say!

From what I read here, I think there seems to be huge pressure to send children to school in England so I wonder if that's part of it?

I do remember throwing up loads as a kid though.

I really did think there were much more vomitty bugs around last year and I am afraid I'm putting that down to tablets. They must be hooching with bugs!

We rarely have D&V. MY 6yo has never taken a day off school sick.

The only people I know who do seem to have constant D&V bugs are a couple with a young DS. They seem to think every restaurant they step in has given them food poisoning.

Personally I think they are either neurotic, liers or don't cook/store their food correctly.

The last D&V story I was 'luckily' enough to be told involved the husband needing to be sick whilst off site, being able to return to the office and drive home before actually being sick. That's got to be bullshit right?

The wife is obsessed with germs since the birth of their ds two years ago and sprays everything. I even had her mother txt me before my dds Christening telling me not to let the dog near the baby because of the germs.

I have never met anyone as ill as these people claim to be. Maybe in the 70's people didn't moan as much and just got on with it and stored/cooked their food properly

My nan tends to think its down to the duvet.

She will never buy one as she saids with lots of blankets they can easily be washed but duvets never really get washed.

She also blames all the cleaning chemicals

We were rarely sick as children. I don't remember it ever being something that the whole school was susceptible to at the same time, either.

I have three children, one of them has been sick more times than I care to recall, and at almost every opportunity. One has had perhaps one sicky illness in his life, and is 6yo now.

The other one is too little to tell.

It is strange. Were hospitals routinely closed when we were growing up? Every winter it seems to happen here but I don't recall it ever being the case what, 30 years ago.

Our house is also a tip fwiw. I'm not sure if that proves anything!

Kids were forever chucking up at school when I was a kid - the janitor would be out with buckets of sand to cover it up at least once a day.

I don't think we were so ill in the 70s but people move around so much more. I doubt the majority of people had cars then. So you travelled 12 miles to and from work, not 20/30 miles.

And if you didn't have a car your DCs didn't go swimming/ footie training/ ballet classes, so didn't mix so much.

32 million people passed through Gatwick airport in 2012 (only stat I could find quickly), doubt it was anywhere near that in 1970.

And hospitals didn't close as they weren't so full, people died at home or died shortly after admission whereas now they are in and out several times. Many D&V bugs are brought in by elderly people from Care Homes.

I'm wondering whether the 48 hour rule, increased hygiene etc have done more harm than good in the long run - shame for someone who's already infirm but exposure to germs generally boosts immunity. When I was at nursery we were taught to wash our hands with soap and water but after that it was a case of quickly running them under the tap.

I'd be interested to know whether an in depth study into the transmission of d&v has been done (similar to what happened with colds years ago).

I think it's mainly to do with the amount of social "mixing" children do from a very early age. A generation ago, stay-at-home mums were the norm so very young children only mixed with their own siblings and possibly ones at a weekly toddler group or playgroup. You tended not to visit other friends with children if either yours or hers had a bug. Now, the majority of babies are in childcare at a very young age and are exposed to many other youngsters of the same age, all swapping bugs. They just have a lot more opportunity to catch every bug going.

Also, working mothers are under pressure not to take too much time off work and therefore possibly return children to nursery or school before they are fully recovered.

www.emetophobiahelp.org/norovirus.html

It would be interesting to know how social mixing, parents sending children back to school/nursery early affects the incidence of these bugs.

Clearly it will make them more prevalent in the short term but in the long term it could potentially boost immunity.

I don't know if its more common or not but pre-ds I would be ill every 18-24 months - maybe tonsilitus or a bad cold. Since ds was 11 months (now 2.8 years) we have both been vomiting every 3-6 months ffs! He picks up every vommy bug going. He barely suffers (quick vom/ass-plosion and playing as normal) but I am knocked out for at least 24-48 hours each time. ARRGghhh. Me and ds are out and about quite a lot (although I try to stay home, and definitely away from play areas/other children for at least 24 hours after the last symptom). HARUMPH.

I think it's to do with temperature/ lack of fresh air clearing germs.

We keep our home very warm and clean however everyday we open all the windows for an hour to blow fresh air into the place. In comparison I have friends who never open windows all winter. So basically everyone is coughing everywhere and the germs must just stay in the air.

We also take our children outside every day regardless of weather. The only day this year was the high winds a few weeks back when I was worried about trees falling so we stayed in. So when they have colds for example we still go for long walks. It means they are coughing into park air and not the living room so much and have lots of fresh air. It's seems to clear them much quicker.

I do wash there hands regularly

Have only have one bug with eldest in 4 years and none accept colds for youngest. As adults we haven't been sick for years

I can remember having about 3 sickness bugs when I was a child. However, we were always made to wash hands before lunch at school and caretakers cleaned a the class rooms every night. This doesn't happen at my dcs schools.