Dad Has D* & Nausea from Lettuce; Mom Is Threatening To Take Me to Psych Ward :(

[Aspie Grrrl]

...because I'm freaking tf out. We just got over a nasty 2-week cold virus (well, I'm not over it yet) and I handled that really well. Today my dad came in pacing after eating lunch & is having diarrhea & looking REALLY sick. He says it's the salad he ate, but I'm terrified it's noro & contagious. He's gotten sick instantly from food before but it was egg salad which is known to carry staph aureus which causes instant d* & v*. So that wasn't so bad because I knew it was food poisoning & not noro which is super contagious.

Can lettuce cause severe intestinal distress almost instantly without it being caused by noro? My mom ate the same thing & is fine...for now. How long does noro generally take to cause symptoms? My fear is that it's going to spread, which I absolutely couldn't stand. My nerves are frayed after dealing with this last sickness. My mom is threatening to commit me to the psych ward because I'm losing control so badly. Any factual info regarding lettuce & diarrhea/nausea would be GREATLY appreciated so I can calm my mind a bit. I'm not seeing anything other than stuff about IBS, which I don't think my dad has. Could lettuce be contaminated with staph aureus too?

Ugh. Sorry for all the questions. It's just the only way I know to truly calm my fears.

[generic npc]

hello! this is a little late so I'm sorry if it's no longer useful to you. lettuce can contain e. coli and salmonella which can come with d* & v*, and i would imagine it can be potentially contaminated with just about anything else; it all depends on who handled it. instantly, i'm not so sure. i'm not an expert on the subject but food poisoning of any kind usually takes at least a few hours and as long as a few days to kick in. e coli and salmonella usually take a while.
norovirus takes 12 to 48 hours to start showing, says google/mayoclinic. my experience with it was about 2 days or so after where i think i was exposed to it.

i think with any case of such a thing it's better to be safe than sorry and keep a distance, but it's not immediately norovirus either. it's likely not from the lunch he ate that day and from something he ate prior if it's food poisoning. even if it is norovirus, if you keep your distance you should be fine. if you're not in the bathroom with him as he uses it, regularly wash your hands, and don't touch your face after touching surfaces that may be exposed to the virus, you'll be fine. but if there isn't any report of an outbreak in your area, it's very likely something else. hope it ends up okay for you!