This post was written on Monday lunchtime and posted with a date stamp of the previous day. It relates to what happened on Sunday and is also explains why Sunday’s post is being written today.

On Friday our house was attacked by the Norovirus. If you are not aware of this nasty bug here is a quick description from a well known health website. I would link to it but it is infested with pop ups. How ironic.

Norovirus, or Norwalk-like virus, is an intestinal virus that causes people to get gastroenteritis. The virus can survive outside the body for days and spreads quickly to other people since only 100 viral particles can cause severe illness.

The most common mode of infection is through food contaminated by a food handler who has had norovirus. The stomach flu is not caused by a flu virus at all, but by norovirus. Norovirus is a virus, it is not a bacteria nor a parasite.

Norovirus symptoms usually appear within 24-48 hours after ingesting the virus, but can begin after just 12 hours. Symptoms usually last 1-2 days.

Diarrhea, vomiting, fever, abdominal cramps and nausea.

Dehydration will often occur and can be serious in the young and elderly

The description doesn’t portray the true horror that this virus brings. We were all infected at various times over the weekend with me, my wife and our 10 month old daughter all spending most of the weekend suffering. Although the constant vomiting and diarrhea are the most personally horrifying symptoms, particularly when, as in our case, a family gets struck at the same time, dehydration is the real danger. Drinking water simply makes the stomach act like a trampoline and force everything out as quickly as it went down. Very unpleasant and potentially very dangerous.

Thankfully our daughter didn’t show any signs of dangerous dehydration and was the first of us to recover. The on call Doctor checked her over and she was given the all clear on Sunday morning. At the time of writing this we have all recovered. The Doctor’s advice was to get plenty of rest, plenty of fluids and to stay indoors for at least another 48 hours since the virus is still contagious.

We can only guess how the virus got into the house. The most likely way is simply that one of us came into contact with a carrier. With the virus able to survive in the air it’s impossible to point the finger with any accuracy.

If you are unlucky enough to catch this then you have my sympathy. The only advice I can give is to stay hydrated, even though this may seem futile.