Quick question about noro (possibly graphic.....)

[Erin80]

So when my girls get it (they are 4 1/2 and 2, so obviously I'm right by their side), they actually throw up only a couple times, and after that it's just heaving, with maybe a tiny bit coming up. How contagious is it when you're sitting next to someone who is just heaving??? I know if they're actually throwing stuff up the particles spray and you can ingest them by getting them in your mouth that way....but if nothing is coming up and they're just really going through the motions of vomiting with no actual vomit, is it still super contagious when you sit with them? Thanks!

[Valen*]

Stomach viruses are very contagious. Some ppl on here will tell u its not airborne but it is. U very well could be a lucky one though and not get it. I sometimes dont, but sometimes do, from my kids:/

[damienuk]

No need to panic people. They are not airborne, unless as the poster says you are next to someone when they v* and the spray goes in to the air. In other words, it is not like a cold where you can catch it from sitting next to someone on the train for instance. A cold or flu is harboured in the respiratory system, but as an SV is in the stomach, you cant just breathe it out. A doctor told me that it is physically impossible.

[Syrup]

I've wondered the same, though I can also tell you that for 5 years now I've been LITERALLY right next to my boys while they v* into a bucket and I've never caught it. Seriously, I think your mouth needs to be right next to it to catch the airborne droplets. I think the amount of particles, as you were saying, depends on the amount of v*. I doubt the little bit that you're talking about has much, though there's enough to make you ill, so I wouldn't suggest touching it! My kid's pediatrician has same the same as the previous poster, it's ONLY airborne when it's coming out and the spray isn't that far (think of if you spill a cup into a bowl, the spread of droplets is the same), don't think of it as going all over the room as that's not the case. You're safe!

[sdd]

Noroviruses are not airborne in the sense that we breathe them out and someone else breathes them in. They are airborne when particles of vomit go airborne. I always sit by my kids when they are v'ing. I rarely catch it. My husband always seems to though. I think maybe that's because he doesn't wash his hands good enough after.

[SUM1]

Stomach viruses are very contagious. Some ppl on here will tell u its not airborne but it is. U very well could be a lucky one though and not get it. I sometimes dont, but sometimes do, from my kids:/

It's not airborne. It doesn't "hang" in the air.

[xxsophiaxx]

A lot of stuff actually doesn't "hang" in the air. Cold viruses do, chicken pox do... but yeah sv* doesn't. I don't think even influenza does, unless someone actually coughs or sneezes. Same with mono... trying to remember back to microbio lol

[Erin80]

I knew it didn't hang in the air, I just wondered how contagious it is when someone is heaving as opposed to actually vomiting.

[jkl81]

They are probably still making enough pressure to aerosolize some v* droplets that you can't see, but I'm not really sure about that, it's just a guess. Remember these virus particles are very very small.