News says Norovirus will be massive. Wondering if one can do anything to help avoid it....

[bigbelle]

Holidays! Kids home! I do not want this. A few weeks ago I cut out most sugar trying to boost immunity (I read bacteria feeds on sugar). Bought some vitamins called Bee Prepared immune support (bee propolis?) & zinc at holland barret, washing hands like a maniac. Avoiding crowded areas. So far so good but sounds like it's spreading like crazy. ANy suggestions? Certain foods one could eat to get stronger?

I think the media will tend to hype it up to the max, whatever - so don't panic too much.

You could try taking probiotics - acidophilus etc, as the gut is the first line of defence apparently with any sort of illness. (read that somewhere)

One of our local hospitals has got closed wards because of it and so I'm hoping I get to have a home birth as the last thing anyone wants is to have a new baby and noro!
Keep washing hands, try and stay out of hospital - ! The kids being off school is imo a good thing as they can't bring it home.

The only thing that is likely to help are washing hands thoroughly and frequently.

And the HPA person I saw on the news recommends staying at home throughout the time of illness and for 48 hours afterwards, as this would reduce the spread through the population.

Regular hand washing and cleaning of surfaces hands touch often (light switches, bannisters, toilet flush, door handles). Oh, and a dose of luck, it's somewhat random.

I agree with Sleds: media will hype it up whatever

Wash hands. Cross (clean) fingers. Shrug a lot!

In one yeargroup of 60 at my school, 19 were off yesterday. One child came in the door first thing and went straight to the sink and threw up, he was feeling so awful. I cannot believe his parents didn't know he was unwell already but sent him in anyway. Several children report, as they're sitting waiting to be collected after vomiting everywhere, that they've been sick at home that morning or the night before and yet are still sent to school to pass the bug on to everyone else.

Elibean, love crossing 'clean' fingers n shrugging loads. Clam- that is freaky. I think it comes on pretty quickly, still, some parents are notorious for sending in sick children! Lots of good tips above.

I don't understand hype about Norovirus; from what I can tell it's just the same as usual vomiting bugs.

Which are awful, admittedly, but I don't see DC catching them more often now than they did 12 years ago, before it had a special name. Or the bug being any harder to deal with. Or prevent, etc.

DS4 has had a bug for last few days, Xing fingers it doesn't spread.

Media hype at its worse.
Swine flu, bird flu.
It's a miracle that the country survives from 1 year to the next.

Don't get me wrong it's awful and people are suffering but it happens every year.

I think I've got it. Haven't had a stomach bug for years. Not feeling very well at all

Norovirus is the main type of vomiting bug, it's not a special name just the actual name of the pathogen that causes it.

I'm not sure it is a particular media hype but some people do need reminding of good hygiene practices to at least try to contain it so mentioning it in the media is the most effective way to do that. As a news story it is much more useful to most of us than some of the other supposed news.

DD (14) had this last week.
We restricted her to using one bathroom.
All surfaces, door knobs, toilet flushes, light switches cleaned with detox
Profuse hand washing and use of anti bacterial hand gel.
She stayed in another room.
None of the rest of us caught it.
Obviously it's easier to do with an older DC but cleanliness is the key.

We only have one bathroom so that won't for us. Luckily its the weekend so dh is around to look after ds (3)

I work in healthcare where its been doing the rounds so I guess it was only a matter of time

It's not always a matter of time, some people have a non-function version of the FUT2 gene which makes them immune to most norovirus strains (but more likely to get e-coli and flu).

Calm that's terrible. I'm always surprised how ignorant people are about passing on bugs. It's not over quickly for everyone unfortunately.

Last year a pregnant friend had lunch with someone whose DC's were recovering from the norovirus . She contracted it & went into early labour. Her DS was in SCU for 10 weeks & has life long complications as a result

Having worked through many a hospital ward outbreak, the best thing you can do as Brigit suggests, we aren't allowed back on the ward for 72 hrs after the last 'episode'

Alcohol gel won't kill the spores though & boil wash everything. It lives on surfaces for upto 2 weeks

oddboots that's interesting I didn't know that.

I managed so far to escape the flu/colds etc - very fortunate given I take immunosuppressant drugs - hopefully I will bounce back quickly from this

Anti bac gels will make it more easy to catch due to them killing all the good bacteria that would give you a fighting chance of not getting it.

Lots of fresh air, lots of hand washing, google how to hand wash properly you'd be surprised, avoid anyone who you know has it, avoid drs and hospitals and schools, make dc wash their hands as soon as they come home from school and get changed, shoes off in the house ( lots of vom on the pavements recently) bleach bleach and more bleach, keep your hands out your mouth esp when on public transport using cash machines and lifts. Sure there's more but I can't quite think ATM.

I have started asking the children to wash their hands (properly, with soap!) when they come in from school. Other than that, I'm not taking any special measures.

DS2 came down with D&V once when we were on a camping holiday! We were as careful as we could be about infection control and none of the rest of the group (four adults, seven other children) caught it.

If one child does come down with it, I would recommend that one person does clean-up and another (another adult if you have one or otherwise an older child) prepares the meals.

Lots of bugs going round already here, d&v types mainly, plus the usual heavy colds.

Last week and week before we have had between 5-9 children off in most classes at school (so a quarter in many cases) with the various bugs. Also a fair few staff. Have started to really make sure the children are washing their hands properly, throwing tissues away after first use, and just general hygiene.

At work we have disinfectant wipes and are supposed to clean keyboard, mouse and desk before start of shift ( I work fir the NHS) it's certainly something worth doing if you share computers at work.

At my dc school they wash ther hands before lunch but not before the morning and afternoon break and fruit snack

Iirc alcohol gels don't work on noro as it doesn't have a lipid/fat-based shell to be dissolved by alcohol, so handwashing with proper soap is your best bet

It needs constant mentioning in the media IMO so people remember to wash their hands / keep sick children off school. Hype is good for that reason

Anti bacterial agents are useless against it as it is a virus, not bacteria. So wash hands properly rather than anti bac gel, and use bleach-based cleaning solutions rather than anti bacterial ones. 48 hours symptom free includes after the diarrhea, not just the vomiting