No Such Thing As The Stomach Flu

   Or so I always thought.  Try telling that to the “400 New Yorkers” that go to the ER each week with stomach illnesses.  I have always heard and read that there is indeed no such thing as a stomach version of influenza.  “Stomach flu” supposedly is a slang term used to describe symptoms like diarrhea, nausea or throwing up. The real reason for these symptoms is usually food poisoning of some sort.  If you become sick to your stomach, you have most likely ingested one of any number of food borne bacteria or viruses, but not the flu virus.

I bring this up because the following story has been all over the web this week and matter of factly states that it is the “stomach flu” that is sending people to the hospital.  Google results for the stories. I did a little research and it does seem the expert opinion is that these stories are just using the slang term to describe what is really food poisoning, or in many recent cases, the norovirus, completely unrelated to influenza.  This norovirus is highly contagious and expected to spread rapidly as we spend more time indoors this winter.

If you come down with it, I guess you will be so miserable you won’t care what the exact biological agent is, or whether you are correct by calling it the stomach flu.  Do your best to avoid getting sick by taking the same hand washing and sanitizing precautions you do to avoid the common cold.