To ask how often you get sickness bugs

[Takemebackto]

We’ve had a stomach bug twice within the last year. I’ve just googled this and apparently the average person only gets one five times in a lifetime. Aibu to have thought it was common to catch it more often than that as it’s so contagious?

Very rarely. I've worked with little children for over 30 years - it does wonders for your immune system

How old are your kids op? I’m amazed at how infrequent it is for others. I can’t think of any vomiting (other than alcohol induced ) until I had kids, and now in the last 4 years around twice a year, once if lucky. Hate it.

Bagelsandbrie I think it's really unlikely you'd get food poisoning from forgetting to wash lettuce! It was probably something else you had eaten or a sickness bug.

Never to my knowledge, I have cleaned up after the children, OH never catches it either. However, I bleach the hell out of everything linen, towels, bathroom, switches, door knobs all surfaces to protect anyone not ill.

Once in my adult life

2/3 from memory in childhood

Twice as an adult (I’m 49). I work as a nurse and no doubt caught them at work. DD had a lot of sickness bouts as a small child despite us having excellent hand and home hygiene. DH also has a very sensitive gut.

A few when I was a kid, one as an adult and I'm 40 this year, so never really

None from age 11-35. 2 since, caught from dc who have both had about 3 each (aged 10 and 13) none in last 3 years. Maybe 2 or 3 as a child.

Never in my adult life.
Maybe as a kid, I don't know.

Once. And boy that was a shocking one
When people say oh I had to rush to the loo like 20 times. More like 120 I was drinking off a teaspoon as I couldn't tolerate any more than that. Got flu straight after and spent 3 weeks in bed. Think I lost about 18lbs!

I hate being sick so if I start to feel nauseous I just don't eat. As an adult I've been sick maybe twice and had a bad bout of diarrhoea once. The children, about once every 2 - 3 years up to secondary and then nothing.

I had campylobacter in 2016 and 3 out of 4 of us picked up a bug sweeping through an AI resort in 2017. Before that I was last sick in pregnancies some years before.
Not often!

It amazes me how often children at school are off with sick bugs.
DS (9) has been sick twice. DS (7) has only been sick following athsmatic coughing or running around in heat, never repeatedly or with loose stools.

I think I did as a small child, then nothing until having children. Probably 5 times in 13 years of parenting, 3 times it was norovirus. No idea about the other couple of times.

I wonder what it is that makes some people get them more frequently than others.

My not at all scientific theory is people have a weak spot mine is tonsillitis/chest infections/pneumonia. I'm rarely physically sick
So even with the sickness bug I was only sick twice, the other end however...

Usually get a cold every year, tonsillitis every other year.

Or do you mean vomiting bugs? In which case 3 or 4 times as a child, once as an adult (freshers flu aged 18)

Every few years off the kids

Norovirus strains (there are multiple different ones) account for 90% of stomach bugs.

People with blood type O are much more prone to Noroviruses than other blood types (you can look this up on google scholar as I know it sounds a bit odd!). I'm blood type O and had several stomach bugs in my childhood and teens.

Norovirus is spread as viral particles that you pick up from items handled by other people (who have spread the virus from their own faeces- yum!) so handwashing is key. If you have young children then stomach bugs can be unavoidable but in general people who practice destination handwashing (i.e. when they get home from work/school and vice versa); before preparing and eating every snack and meal and after using the loo/handling rubbish/putting laundry loads do catch fewer viral infections.

Once when I was about 13.

Never had another one.

I don’t think I’ve ever had one.

Proper wipe out puking sickness? Something Noro like twice in the past 10 years, certainly memorable! However, there's also pregnancy, one lot of flu, little bits of feeling sick due to small child picking up bugs. I'm a teacher so my immune system is battered constantly.

Oh also just to say hand gel doesn't work for most viral stomach bugs (the ethanol does not denature that type of virus in the way that it denatures Coronavirus) but some anti-viral hand sanitizers with benzalkonium chloride in them do work for it.

None in the last couple of years although my DD has had 2 in that time, swept the school and they almost closed.
About 3-4 years ago we had 5 in one calendar year and we all had it, I think my immune system was really low due to stress etc. Plus I have a couple of friends who refuse to follow any 48 hour rule and it's always after seeing them.
I would say I have a sensitive stomach as do both my kids, my dad is sick easily too.
My DP is never sick unless alcohol induced.

In terms of proper ‘oh please god let me die’ horrors, Noro a couple of years ago (at Christmas - that was fun) and something food related about 15 years ago.

We never got anything when we were kids - mum was convinced that deli counters, cold meat etc from the butchers, and takeaways were the source of all such things So we never ate stuff from there (if you ate pate you might as well book your funeral). Everything was cooked to the point where no bugs could survive!