Flatmate is ill - possible noro PLEASE HELP!

[olivetree]

I'm at university in the UK and live in a shared flat. We all have our own bedroom and bathroom, but shared kitchen. My flat mate came back from 4 days with her family and 4 members had noro. Last night she started being s*, I of course major panicked and packed a bag and stayed with a friend somewhere else last night, and am staying here tonight, too. I am FREAKING OUT! She says she wasn't being s* in the night, when she was s* last night it was only 'upch**ck' and not major, and she hasn't been s*today as far as I know. I am trying to get some emergency help, phoning helplines and therapists near me but the truth is I don't know what to do.l I can't go back into my flat and even when I do I won't be able to use the kitchen for a while. NOT HAPPY. NEED HELP!

[Grace47]

You can only get noro by ingesting it, so if you clean with bleach, you will kill it all. It is not air or saliva born. Your flatmate may not have had noro - especially since she was only sick once and not much then. She probably ate something that didn't agree with her. I'm sure your flat is safe. You may want to clean, but even if you don't, it will still be safe, because honestly, it does not sound like she had noro. There's probably nothing to catch.

[olivetree]

Thank-you for that, that's calmed me down a bit. When you say ingest it how exactly do you mean? It's obviously something that spreads very easily and quickly so even though I think I knew that it scares me a lot. Is bleach the strongest thing to use to kill the potential virus/germs?

[ditchy_jon]

Bleach will kill norovirus straight away. But I dont think your friend had norovirus as she would have vomited more than once and she would feel absolutely dreadful. She may have eaten to much, drank to much, was tired, there are so many reason, however I dont think norovirus was one of them. You will be absoultely fine.

[olivetree]

Ok thank you for that, She said she's fine today, she was even prepared to go out tonight! But then her boyfriend started feeling ill so it does seem like something that's spreading? Emetophobia is so stressful!