Headaches, gas, muscle soreness, vomiting and diarrhea are all things that you feel when you are sick with a stomach ‘bug” why does it actually hurt so much? And what is happening internally as it goes thru your body?
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When you contract norovirus via oral-fecal route, only 18 virus particles are needed to infect you. As a result of these viruses attaching themselves to your digestive cells, within 72 hours the infected cells have multiplied and begin to inflame your intestinal wall, hence the cramping. The vomiting and diarrhea is your body’s way of forcing the norovirus from your body while the fever is your body’s mechanism of “torching “the bacteria from your cells.
Even after you’ve recovered, you spread norovirus particles in your stool for up to a week. The viruses can live up until 220 degrees Fahrenheit and up to 2 weeks on surfaces. It is not airborne thank God unless you’re within 9-15 feet of a vomiting incident (check out Larry the Vomiting Robot). Norovirus is very contagious.
The best way to prevent it is to wash hands before eating. It is especially common from October- April, and can only be killed by means of bleach, hydrogen peroxide and in some cases thymol. There’s a can of Lysol brand III that kills “feline calicivirus norovirus” if it sits for 10 minutes on a contaminated surface. While this is not exactly the same kind of norovirus that gives you the “stomach flu”, it’s part of the very- hardy caliciviridae family of viruses with their fortified viral envelope.
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