As COVID slowly exits the epidemiological limelight (but is still very much here to stay), outbreaks of another icky germ — norovirus — are making a comeback and returning to prepandemic numbers.
Commonly known as the stomach flu, “cruise ship virus,” food poisoning, or stomach bug, norovirus is the kind of germ that you never forget if you (and likely all your family and friends at the same time) experience its symptoms. It is an extremely contagious pathogen that causes acute gastroenteritis, or inflammation in the stomach or intestines, resulting in intense bouts of diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, and nausea. Symptoms can last up to three days and can also include headaches, fever, and body aches in some people.
Even though it’s sometimes called a stomach flu, it has nothing to do with influenza, the respiratory virus that comes in waves every year. There’s no vaccine for norovirus.
The bug seems to be making brutal rounds in the Northeast, particularly New York City, sentencing people to their toilets for a few days. The CDC reported that norovirus cases are rising nationally as well. The UK is also experiencing the highest norovirus levels at this time of year in over a decade.
While it may seem like the germ is bringing more people down than ever before after a three year break from everything non-COVID, a CDC spokesperson told USA Today that cases “remain within the expected range for this time of year.”
