AIBU to think there is any way I won't pass norovirus on to the rest of the house?

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I have just had the worst bout of norovirus I think I've ever had. Thankfully it was short lived and I'm feeling a lot better. It started on Tuesday night and lasted till about 10:30 yesterday morning. I've been in bed since, utterly shattered but not being sick at all.

Anyway, DD was in bed when I was sick the first time and our bathroom is on a different floor to her. DH slept in the spare room on Tuesday night and last night. So far they're both fine which seems a miracle. I'm washing my hands like a demon and trying not to touch DD too much, though she's only 21 months so it's quite hard as she needs nappy changes (I did one this morning) and can't get her own drinks or anything. I stayed completely away from her and DH all day yesterday while I was actually being sick etc. He had to take emergency leave to watch DD as I was not in fit shape for anything.

So, AIBU to think there is a chance they won't catch it? DD has had tummy bugs before, but this one was such a buggar I really wouldn't want my worst enemy to catch it.

If you have it and no-one else gets it how do you know it's Norovirus and not something you ate/ another bug?
And on the subject, what's the difference between Noro/ Rotavirus (sp?) and a vomiting bug of other determination? Are there others? Mind is boggling

Hand washing like religion. Treat every contaminated item like toxic waste (or give it a 60 degree wash, at least). Usually vomitting bugs don't spread in our house.

The worst was a bug that kept spreading 4 days after the last person had been sick, when I finally got around to relaxing my guard. So kids1+2 went down; 4 days after they seemed completely well, adult1 came down. 4 days after adult1 seemed completely well, kid3 went down (etc). I think that may have been our only actual bout of genuine norovirus.

Rota is pretty much impossible to contain fwiw. It's just that most people over the age of 5 are immune.

Us emetophobes do our research

Shall we just call it Mumsnet flu'

Like booklooker I am curious to know how everyone can identify their illness as norovirus. It sounds ghastly but I think if that happened to me I would be saying that I had had some dreadful stomach bug - I would have no idea whether or not it was norovirus.

I didn't. But about 12 of 50 people got it after a works do (it wasn't the food as otherwise more people would have developed symptoms), at a time of year when it was most prolific, and we all said it was a horrific experience so it's a reasonable assumption.

It could've been rotavirus although I didn't think that affected adults as badly as children.

Anyway, as a PP said, the infection control measures are the same for any gastric virus whatever it is. Noro is special because it's vicious, survives for longer outside the body and has a more impenetrable outer layer than other intestinal viruses.

I am happy to concede that "noro" was unconfirmed.

Fellow emetophobe here Basic

I didn't pass it on either time I had it. I just used antibac wipes on all door/cupboard handles, tv remotes, light switches and the toilet flush.

For those who asked how do you know it's norovirus: You know. Once you've had it once, you recognise it again in a heartbeat. It is in an unpleasant class all of it's own. Hits you instantly. You can be stuffing your face in mcdonalds feeling completely fine and half hour later you feel sick as a dog and then the chills hit.

If you're an adult, fairly unlikely to be rotavirus and noro is the next most likely candidate, especially if it is going around.

Lol @ a medical professional diagnosing someone with norovirus. By the time you get a GP appointment if it was something else it would have killed you. Aside from the risk of spreading it to everyone else in the surgery.
I've had flu three times. Fucking vile. Never had it. 'Diagnosed' as like noro it's a generally self limiting virus. I still know it was flu so don't appreciate pompous know all's on the internet telling me not to self diagnose. I believe it's called common sense and not wasting medical time

We had two bouts and both times tried super hard, washing, bleaching, keeping away ... Still we all got it, usually with 2 days in between one person and the next. Week of hell. Hope your family escapes!

And on the subject, what's the difference between Noro/ Rotavirus?

Noro is the virus that causes most infectious gastroenteritis cases in adults. There are several strains (so you can get it more or less severely) and it is a very infectious small virus - possibly with as little as ten virus particles. It also mutates quickly, so if you aren't naturally unsusceptible, you also don't retain immunity to it for long as it's constantly mutating. It causes short-term d&v. It is a teeny single-strand RNA virus.

Rotavirus is a more stable virus that also has several strains but mutates much more slowly, so the strains are more stable over time. It's a bigger double-strand RNA virus. Children under 5 tend to be most susceptible to it and the first infection is the worst - normally as they pick up different strains of the infection during childhood they eventually become immune. Most adults have a large amount of immunity to RV (but not all - when DD had her first big bout DH got it too!) It causes normally quite sustained periods of vomiting and then watery yeasty diarrhoea with a very particular and distinctive smell, which often lasts for 3-7 days. It can be dangerous in very young children who can become dehydrated v quickly and need admitting to hospital, hence the reason why the NHD introduced a vaccine about 2 years ago (DD was born only six months too early, curses!)

*NHS not NHD, sorry!

You know, they might well be okay. I live with my DM, two DBs and my toddler DS - earlier this year every single person in the household got the bout of norovirus...aside from me - and I wasn't even quarantined, I had LO puke over me at one stage, and he basically clung to me like a limpet the whole time he was poorly so I have no idea at all why I didn't catch it. I'd had viral pneumonia and an asthma attack about a week before so it's not even like my immune system was in tip top shape. Sometimes people just escape I suppose - and you've evidently taken the right precautions. Fingers crossed your DH and DD are ok, especially the LO, though I've discovered quite how resilient small children are when it comes to tummy bugs!

Another emmetophobia here.
My 12 year old.had this 2 months ago no one else caught it. I think due to my stringent cleaning g with bleach

I'd have thought that those people whose babies didn’t become ill with their mother's bug while bf'ing were likely to have been protected by the bf'ing.

Yes you can but you have to be very careful. Clean door handles, phone, house keys, wash all surfaces, hands etc try and use different toilet limit contact. Not nice. Hope you feeling better op xxx

Another emetophobe watching this thread with interest.

It's true that bugs don't always present in the same way. Last summer I came home with d, 4 hours later dd1 was up being sick for 8 hours, 4 hours after dd1 was DH, then dd2, then ds. My mom and FIL who were around us both also caught it. Everyone other me and my mom vomited.

In March I think DS had a mild form of rotavirus. 2 days later dd1 got it, then a day later dd2 and her cousin. All adults escaped it.

We bleach like mad. With school starting I'm starting coconut oil daily and when a bug is doing the rounds my kids won't go to school. I'm too scared of it.

It depends whether it is norovirus or not. And you only know that if it diagnosed by a PCR on a stool sample. Guidelines in England & Wales are only to test in potential outbreak situations in hospitals and care homes, or rarely if another diagnosis needs to be excluded. If samples don't meet those criteria they will get rejected because the result will not change the management, and if everyone with D&V had a sample tested the lab wouldn't have time to do anything else! You, nor any HCP, cannot distinguish noro on symptoms alone.

Noro is horrendously infective and it is fairly unlikely (although certainly not impossible, some people are less susceptible) that household contacts will escape. There are multiple other causes of self-limiting D&V, with exactly the same symptoms, and most of them aren't quite as easily transmitted as noro. Hence the varying experiences on this thread.

All you can do is be scrupulous with hygiene and hope for the best.

Antibac won't work as its a virus not bacteria. You need bleach.

I had it a couple of years back and (then) D Boyf didn't succumb. I was bleaching EVERYTHING. It was vile.

A doctor years ago told me that Norovirus has different strains in different parts of the country. If you move to a new area you won't be immune to the local strains. This certainly has been the case for me. Also I don't know how long the virus lives but twice I got it within days of moving into a new flat.

Keep your fingers crossed - it can happen.

Ds caught it when he was about a year old. (Called pediatrician as was the first time he'd ever projectile vomited and unlikely to be norovirus as he has been vaccinated). He threw up in bed and once all over me (I was covered neck to knees in puke). That was it - just two episodes and a bit of poorliness for two days. He wasn't walking yet so kept him confined to a blanket on the sofa.

Started washing things like mad. Disinfected all toys etc in bleach solution. You can also use hydrogen peroxide I believe (read this on government regulations for daycares) - but was super hard to find at the time.

Then dh caught it - he got quarantined to en suite master bedroom. He was in there for a week. Did not go near him, kept door closed. He wasn't allowed to touch anything in kitchen etc. he spent 80% of his time in the toilet - hah!

I didn't get sick at all.

Also, I read and confirmed with dr friend - the virus can hang around on surfaces for up to two weeks. Also can be shed in bodily waste for a while after, along with the non-immunity as a PP said - so keep that in mind. I think It's theoretically possible for everyone to get Better and then catch it again because you didn't clean well enough.

Argh. *unlikely to be norovirus = unlikely to be rotavirus.

It's interesting that people separate noro from 'something I ate'. Food is one of the ways that noro transmits. Food poisoning could well be noro. Or it may not be noro but the precautions are the same. But as according to NHS choices bugs in adults are usually noro it is not an unreasonable assumption that this is what it probably is.

I absolutely believe it is containable, but we have a reasonable size house with 2 bathrooms. DH also doesn't seem to get tummy bugs. So he mops up and I keep the other child away we go out until bed time (while bleaching constantly when I get back) or if it is me I do not leave my bedroom/ensuite. No one else comes in other than a single cup delivery for water.

The 'it spreads regardless' brigade are the ones that all get them in turn I think. One of my neighbours is adamant that you will have caught it before the first person is sick and I just don't think that's the case. It is spread mainly by vomit and faeces.

I had a horrible bug when dd1 was 6 months old and she didn't catch it. She was ff but dh looked after her/ my parents looked after her when he was at work. From that point of view ff is better I imagine for containment.