New here with a question about norovirus

[Leslie735]

Hi there! I'm new here, lurked for a while but never had the courage to really sign up. I believe I am an emet, I CONSTANTLY worry about SV's. I am a married women with 2 little boys. Anyway, almost 3 weeks ago my oldest son (6 years) V'd in the middle of the night. It was just the one time and he was totally fine right after. I thought, maybe it was just an upset stomach, I had hoped anyway. I stayed up the rest of the night too scared to go back to bed. The next day I kept him home from school (thankfully it was Friday so he had all weekend to recoup just in case). He went back to school on Monday, never got sick other than the one time no D either, ate fine, no problems. By Monday I had concluded he just had an upset stomach or whatever since nobody else came down with any symptoms. I babysitt 2 little ones in my home (11 months and 19 months) they were both here on that Friday so if they did not catch it, obviously it wasn't a bug right?! WRONG! Wednesday morning about 6:30 in the morning my youngest son comes in me and my husbands room, gets in our bed and was just acting strange. By 7 am (after my hubby left for work) I could hear his stomach making noises and he was whimpering and moving around in around in our bed a lot. I asked him if he was ok and he said "I'm siicccck." He started gagging. I picked him up and ran him into the bathroom where he V'd a few times. This went on every hour for about 4 hours. He never had D. By lunchtime he was completely fine and eating goldfish crackers. That evening after he had been fine for over 8 hours he V'd all in his bed. Oy! So hubby and I cleaned him up and his bed. I made him a bed on the couch and I slept on the other couch. He never got sick anymore and was completely fine the next day other than a low appetite. By that Friday early morning hubby woke up at 3:30 in the morning and was Ving in the bathroom. I was asleep on the couch and it woke me up. An hour and 1/2 later I started having D and proceeded to have it the rest of the day. Hubby V'd one more time but felt a lot better other than aches and a fever. I just had D all day and some N. About 5:00 that late afternoon I V'd 3 times right in a row and after that felt SOOOo much better and was fine the rest of the night. During that entire week I didn't let the babies come to the house. Ironically, one of the babies I keep her parents got sick the same weekend me and my hubby did but yet they had not been at our house at all, so I concluded they caught it from somewhere else. Fast forward to last Thursday, the other baby I keep started running a fever at my house that morning (he did't come to our house until Wednesday so that is when he must've picked up the illness in our house somewhere even though I cleaned with bleach and lysol spray all over the place) by that evening he had V'd a few times. On Sunday both his parents were sick as well. His Dad was fine by the next morning and had a relapse yesterday. Today the baby is here at my house, even though he is well I'm FREAKING OUT! I'm keeping him in the high chair or playpen, not letting him run all over my house and I'm washing my hands like crazy! Is there a chance we can re catch this virus? I'm flipping out b/c I have my class reunion this Friday and Saturday and I don't want this to ruin it and I'm afraid even if we don't get it again, I'll be stressing out the entire time and not enjoy any of it. Please reassure me we cannot re catch this virus. Thanks everyone!!! Sorry so long!

[Pigatron]

Welcome! First let me just say that I really admire people with kids. I don't know how you do it. What you describe sounds so dreadful! My heart was pounding just reading it. Regarding your question, I don't think it is possible to contract the same SV again in such a short period of time, judging from the research I've done online. Plus it sounds like you're being really careful with hand washing, and nobody is v*ing in your house anymore, so you should be fine.

[Leslie735]

Welcome! First let me just say that I really admire people with kids. I don't know how you do it. What you describe sounds so dreadful! My heart was pounding just reading it. Regarding your question, I don't think it is possible to contract the same SV again in such a short period of time, judging from the research I've done online. Plus it sounds like you're being really careful with hand washing, and nobody is v*ing in your house anymore, so you should be fine.

Thank you so much for the reassurance!

I became an emet AFTER during my pregnancy with my 2nd son. I had a SV when I was about 7 years old, I remember it so well too. I remember we were at my Grandmothers house up north visiting. I didn't get another one until I was 24 years old. It was the day after my birthday and I woke up in the middle of the night gagging. I lasted about 6 hours and I was 36 weeks pregnant with my 2nd. I survived 2 pregnancies without ever Ving at all. Just had N on and off. My youngest son had Rotavirus when he was 4 months old. He V'd and had D for about 5 days straight, nobody else caught it even my oldest son who was only 2 at the time. We had some sort of virus last November over Thanksgiving. My youngest son started it a few days after his 4th birthday, he V'd once, 2 days later my oldest V'd once, 2 days after that my hubby V'd once, and 2 days after that I just dry heaved. So needless to say my anxiety has been in overdrive lately! Then this came about, I was surprisingly calm about it, I was able to help both my kids, clean up and deal with it myself without too much anxiety. I was shocked, even my husband made a comment how well I dealt with it. But now that it's happened I don't want it to happen again so quickly! I'm especially worried b/c of this weekend. That would be awful and so disappointing!

[Leslie735]

I'm worried the SV mutated since it went from me through 3 other people and now it could be back in my house. Is that possible?

[Pigatron]

I doubt it. Of course, I'm not a pathologist, but I don't think a virus can mutate in such a short time period. And just taking casual evidence into consideration, I've never heard of anyone saying that they had a SV and then just three weeks later saying that they got another one. That would just be such terrible luck, I feel like it wouldn't happen. To lessen your anxiety for your reunion, just be ultra-super-careful about hand washing and touching food, your face, and mouth until then, and then you can reassure yourself that there's no way you could have contracted a SV because you were so careful about what went in your mouth over the preceding couple of days, and you were not in the presence of anyone v*ing or having d.

[Syrup]

I am sure that it's the same virus and that you are going to be just fine. There is a 'facts about Noro' somewhere on this site that really may put your mind at ease. Once you've had it you're immune for about 4 months. I doubt that the other family caught it from somewhere else in that short of a time, especially if the kiddos had been in your house. They were most likely exhibiting symptoms that got overlooked (d*) and that spread to everyone else. Also, remember that the babies aren't able to spread sickness to you if they have clean hands and if you are being careful with the diaper care. Once you've changed their diaper use a bleach/water spray to clean the area and scrub your and their hands. You don't need to chase them around and to be continually cleaning. Everything is under control! Enjoy your reunion!

[Leslie735]

I am sure that it's the same virus and that you are going to be just fine. There is a 'facts about Noro' somewhere on this site that really may put your mind at ease. Once you've had it you're immune for about 4 months. I doubt that the other family caught it from somewhere else in that short of a time, especially if the kiddos had been in your house. They were most likely exhibiting symptoms that got overlooked (d*) and that spread to everyone else. Also, remember that the babies aren't able to spread sickness to you if they have clean hands and if you are being careful with the diaper care. Once you've changed their diaper use a bleach/water spray to clean the area and scrub your and their hands. You don't need to chase them around and to be continually cleaning. Everything is under control! Enjoy your reunion!

Thank you so much!! I guess I was just worried it mutated and my family and I could get re infected. I read something about every person it passes through it mutates. Maybe I mis understood. Thanks again! I'll try searching for the noro facts, thanks!

[Cynna]

DO NOT RANDOMLY GOOGLE NORO, INCREASES ANXIETY IN MOST.

If you really really can't stop yourself and want to know more, stick to sites like the CDC or some govt agency. There is tons of misinformation about noro out there. There are tons of articles written to scare and shock people that are false.

The virus can mutate like any virus can. From what I understand, last one came when from the Sydney strain. Mutations typically happens every 2-3 years. The new Sydney strain is not really much different from the old strain as far as severity and stuff. Sometimes the mutations can be in our favor too. I am not a doc or microbiologist.

Welcome to IES.

Once you have it, immunity can last I think up around 3 months or so.

[Leslie735]

DO NOT RANDOMLY GOOGLE NORO, INCREASES ANXIETY IN MOST.

If you really really can't stop yourself and want to know more, stick to sites like the CDC or some govt agency. There is tons of misinformation about noro out there. There are tons of articles written to scare and shock people that are false.

The virus can mutate like any virus can. From what I understand, last one came when from the Sydney strain. Mutations typically happens every 2-3 years. The new Sydney strain is not really much different from the old strain as far as severity and stuff. Sometimes the mutations can be in our favor too. I am not a doc or microbiologist.

Welcome to IES.

Once you have it, immunity can last I think up around 3 months or so.

Thank you!!!