sickness bugs - where do they come from??

[twoisplenty]

Is there anyone with a bit of scientific knowledge of these things? With the exception of food poisoning, how do these sickness bugs happen? where do they spring up from?

Just wondered! Obviously want to avoid them like the plague...

They are either bacterial or viral infections normally spread by transmission of bodily fluids. So when someone coughs/sneezes etc etc they spread the diseas. Kids obviously spread saliva/snot etc evwerywhere hence they
pick up so many bugs. Is that what you needed to know?

Thanks, yes. Once the body has had an infection, it is immune to that one, isn't it? So am I right in thinking there must be hundreds of bacteria/viruses that cause sickness etc. Can you ever become immune to them all?

the thing that bewilders me is that you hear of a sickness bug occuring in a school for example, then loads of people get it, then it disappears. Where does it start?

Sorry to sound obsessed, i'm not, it's just one of those questions that I would love to have answered so then I know!

They are viruses and they can originate in shellfish. But what I want to know is, why are they so prevalent now? we never got them when I was a child, and entire schools being infected was unheard of!

This site has some info about the viral kind.

some food poisoning bugs are contagious tho. So I guess that 1 child may get food poisoning and then spread itt around the class.

I often wonder if we all sat in quarantine treatiing any current personal infection/illnesses for a month could we rid the world of infectious illness (and headlice)??????

Viruses/bacteria naturally mutate so you while you will never be immune to them all.
They have always been around and whole schools have been effected, but when you where at school you probably weren't reading the newspapers and talking to people with kids at other schools.
Get your kids to wash their hands after using the loo - all the normal personal hygeine stuff, but they are kids, so you'll never avoid bugs completely.

I meant " while you may be immune to many you'll never be immune to them all"

hospitals seem to be the worst for these sickness bugs..here they are closing wards in the hospitals because of sickness and diarrohoea the norwalk virus or whatever it's called

Thanks everyone, I feel much better informed. Thanks fireflighty for the info, very very interesting. I had forgotten that viruses can mutate therefore immunity will never be achieved.