I got Norovirus and wasnt on a cruise

[cruisnseas]

Oh poor you! Noro is the worst! Glad you are feeling better :(

[knittinggirl]

It's really going around. I think I caught it at church, about a day later I was really sick running to the bathroom every 10-15 minutes all night long. I kept on taking tiny sips of gatorade. Hoping I wouldn't end up in the hospital w/ dehydration.

 

Awful!

 

The doctor took a bunch of stool cultures, and it took a month to get the last of the results.

[cruisin_cutie216]

Hope you're feeling better. All the hand sanitizers they had us using don't do much good with some of the strains out there. Only soap and water and a lot of scrubbing.

 

Just now back on my full diet as of yesterday. I am feeling better but it was rough about a week ago! Couldn't even keep water down. :-( I was on Allure of the Seas earlier this month and we had over 100 cases on our sailing. One woman we ran into in port said her husband was quarantined for some norovirus symptoms. Mine didn't manifest until we were back home but doctor says it was more than likely picked up on the cruise ship. Lovely.

 

Hope everyone gets well soon if they're sick! Take it easy.

[Coralc]

Thanks. Thank goodness we have two bathrooms at home. :o

[brillohead]

It hits our town EVERY November, often causing schools to shut down for a few days to try to stop the spread.

 

Nasty, nasty little bug!

[Gon2hwe]

I got it a few weeks ago and haven't been on a cruise since December . There is a new form of it going around now. Believe me I know how you felt, I have never been so sick. So if anyone is going on a cruise soon keep the hands clean and if you have it before your cruise please stay home!

[Donray]

Only time I got it I think was from the gym.

[believer33323]

For all that have the misconception and fear of getting the Norovirus on a Cruise Ship. Here are statistics from the CDC.

 

Outbreaks, U.S., 2010-2011:

Long-term Care Facility 59%; (That's Scary)

Restaurants 8%;

Party and Event 6%;

Hospital 4%; School 4%;

Cruise Ship 4%;

Other and Unknown 15%.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/trends-outbreaks.html

 

Yes only 4% from cruise ships. We may need to worry more about grandma and grandpa in those nursing homes more than our cruise.

[Scotland01]

In the UK we call it the wnter vomitting bug and it was very bad December and January in our area. Personally picked it up while staying at a hotel in Tenerife a couple of years ago. DH took it 12 hours after me. There was only one loo!! Funny thing was we had paid a lot to have an all inclusive food and alcohol package so it was the most expensive bottled water ever!!!!

[kyriecat]

I caught it last year about 6 weeks after a cruise. I'm not sure what the actual incubation period for noro is, but I assume it's shorter than 6 weeks so I probably caught it from somewhere other than the ship. I'm lucky to have a fairly resistant immune system so I was only down for about 36 hours. It was a bad 36 hours though! I think everything I ate for the previous month came out one end or the other! UGH! I didn't have it checked to verify it was noro so I guess it could have been another stomach bug. A couple days after I was feeling better, my husband came down with the same thing. Poor guy! He was sick for 4 days.

 

I've only had a stomach bug a couple of times and neither time was on a cruise ship. My husband had a stomach bug onboard Radiance in 2006, but his was salmonella not noro.

[sunnysavannah]

Yuck! Glad you are feeling better! Thanks for the reminder, too.

[aussiehall1]

Do you have "those" friends that scoff at you any time you mention cruising? :rolleyes:

 

How about those friends that believe cruise ships are just one big germ ridden trap on the high seas and that if they go they will get sick?

 

I have a few of those friends myself.

 

Last week, I got a confirmed case of Norovirus and I havent been on a cruise in almost a year. I really dont know where I got it or how but I know I dont EVER want it again.

 

For those that have had Norovirus, I need not tell you how miserable it is. You already know!

 

For those that havent? Consider youself FORTUNATE and do your best while onboard to be clean and wash your hands frequently! Do NOT let the hand sanitizers be your false sense of security!

 

I will spare the details but I went through almost 4 full days of being the sickest I have ever been in my life as far as stomach virus goes. I even had a lowgrade fever at times. At one point, I thought I would have to get to feeling better to die :(

 

It was miserable and I cant even imagine being on a cruise ship and being that sick.

 

Im not trying to scare anyone. I promise! I guess the only reason I am even posting this here is to warn people to practice cleanliness and frequent handwashing while on board. And even though most of us already know, I am letting newbies that might be looking on know that you can get this stuff on land too.

 

I was real good about trying to practice good personal hygeine before. Now Im afraid I will become a freak about it, lol.

 

Happy cruising everyone!

 

PS. I know this isnt Royal Caribbean specific or even really cruising specific but this is the only forum on here I frequent. If it gets moved or deleted, I understand.

 

 

I know exactly how you feel, I also had the Norovirus and it took me an additional 5 weeks to get over when I got home from the cruise. I was on a 9 night cruise and for 5 of the days I didn't eat a thing or leave my cabin. It is something NOBODY ever wants to experience. I was a hand wash freak b4 the cruise, I'm also not ever going to count on those hand sanitizers. I am also taking my own lysol (discenfectant) spray and as I enter my stateroom I will be spraying and have lysol wipes to make sure that the bathroom is clean plus phone, remote and door handles. I never want to experience the Norovirus again!!!

[A&L_Ont]

Just now back on my full diet as of yesterday. I am feeling better but it was rough about a week ago! Couldn't even keep water down. :-( I was on Allure of the Seas earlier this month and we had over 100 cases on our sailing. One woman we ran into in port said her husband was quarantined for some norovirus symptoms. Mine didn't manifest until we were back home but doctor says it was more than likely picked up on the cruise ship. Lovely.

 

I caught it last year about 6 weeks after a cruise. I'm not sure what the actual incubation period for noro is, but I assume it's shorter than 6 weeks so I probably caught it from somewhere other than the ship. I'm lucky to have a fairly resistant immune system so I was only down for about 36 hours. It was a bad 36 hours though! I think everything I ate for the previous month came out one end or the other! UGH! I didn't have it checked to verify it was noro so I guess it could have been another stomach bug. A couple days after I was feeling better, my husband came down with the same thing. Poor guy! He was sick for 4 days.

 

I will start by saying I am no doctor. From my unfortunate experiences with Noro the incubation period is 24-48 hours, and then 24 hours of pure hell, followed by a good week of feeling like garbage.

 

I think the doctor in the first quote just chose to blame the fact that you were on a cruise. It is such as fast moving illness that if caught on the last day of the cruise it should hit you your first day or two at home. Sadly cruising gets the blame, even though it runs rampant in many other locations.

 

I copied these few disgusting but interesting facts from Wikipedia.

 

 

Pathophysiology

When a person becomes infected with norovirus, the virus begins to replicate within the small intestine. After approximately one to two days, norovirus infection symptoms can appear. The principal symptom is acute gastroenteritis that develops between 24 and 48 hours after exposure, and lasts for 24–60 hours. The disease is usually self-limiting, and characterized by nausea, forceful vomiting, watery diarrhea, and abdominal pain, and in some cases, loss of taste. General lethargy, weakness, muscle aches, headache, coughs, and low-grade fever may occur.

 

Transmission

Noroviruses are transmitted directly from person to person and indirectly via contaminated water and food. They are extremely contagious, and fewer than twenty virus particles can cause an infection. Transmission occurs through ingesting contaminated food and water and by person-to-person spread. Transmission can be aerosolized when those stricken with the illness vomit, and can be aerosolized by a toilet flush when vomit or diarrhea is present; infection can follow eating food or breathing air near an episode of vomiting, even if cleaned up. The viruses continue to be shed after symptoms have subsided and shedding can still be detected many weeks after infection.

 

Vomiting, in particular, transmits infection effectively. In one incident, a person who vomited spread infection right across a restaurant, suggesting that many unexplained cases of food poisoning may have their source in vomit. 126 people were dining at six tables in December 1998; one woman vomited. Staff quickly cleaned up, and people continued eating. Three days later others started falling ill; 52 people reported a range of symptoms, from fever and nausea to vomiting and diarrhea. The cause was not immediately identified. Researchers plotted the seating arrangement: more than 90% of the people at the same table as the sick woman later reported becoming ill. There was a direct correlation between the risk of infection of people at other tables and how close they were to the sick woman. More than 70% of the diners at an adjacent table fell ill; at a table on the other side of the restaurant, the rate was still 25%. The outbreak was attributed to a Norwalk-like virus (norovirus). Other cases of transmission by vomit were later identified.

[Winnigirl]

Queen Elizabeth was hospitalized with it this winter - I'm pretty sure she wasn't on a cruise.

[atb]

I work in a Long-term care facility. I got off Enchantment OTS on Monday 3/18, and went to work on Tuesday 3/19, to find my building quarantined because of norovirus.

The worst is over in our building - but it was not pleasant.

[brillohead]

I work in a Long-term care facility. I got off Enchantment OTS on Monday 3/18, and went to work on Tuesday 3/19, to find my building quarantined because of norovirus.

The worst is over in our building - but it was not pleasant.

 

CODE BROWN! :eek:

[k9x8]

I copied these few disgusting but interesting facts from Wikipedia.

 

<blech> That just blew any thought of a mid-afternoon snack right out the window.

[gaylemh]

Just curious as to how many of you that came down with Noro virus are on acid blockers? I read awhile back that people on acid reducing medications were much more likely to catch stomach viruses, because the acid in the stomach helps to kill the viruses.

[A&L_Ont]

Just curious as to how many of you that came down with Noro virus are on acid blockers? I read awhile back that people on acid reducing medications were much more likely to catch stomach viruses, because the acid in the stomach helps to kill the viruses.

 

Of the 7 of us that got it none of us were on acid blockers. We varried in age from 3 to 64. We were all sick over a 5 day period. I can thank the SIL and her family for the "wonderful gift" on boxing day. I guess we could have called if barfing day.

[jenn6743]

Do you have "those" friends that scoff at you any time you mention cruising? :rolleyes:

 

How about those friends that believe cruise ships are just one big germ ridden trap on the high seas and that if they go they will get sick?

 

I have a few of those friends myself.

 

Last week, I got a confirmed case of Norovirus and I havent been on a cruise in almost a year. I really dont know where I got it or how but I know I dont EVER want it again.

 

For those that have had Norovirus, I need not tell you how miserable it is. You already know!

 

For those that havent? Consider youself FORTUNATE and do your best while onboard to be clean and wash your hands frequently! Do NOT let the hand sanitizers be your false sense of security!

 

I will spare the details but I went through almost 4 full days of being the sickest I have ever been in my life as far as stomach virus goes. I even had a lowgrade fever at times. At one point, I thought I would have to get to feeling better to die :(

 

It was miserable and I cant even imagine being on a cruise ship and being that sick.

 

Im not trying to scare anyone. I promise! I guess the only reason I am even posting this here is to warn people to practice cleanliness and frequent handwashing while on board. And even though most of us already know, I am letting newbies that might be looking on know that you can get this stuff on land too.

 

I was real good about trying to practice good personal hygeine before. Now Im afraid I will become a freak about it, lol.

 

Happy cruising everyone!

 

PS. I know this isnt Royal Caribbean specific or even really cruising specific but this is the only forum on here I frequent. If it gets moved or deleted, I understand.

 

 

Woo that does not sound like fun!! I just sailed on the Allure March 10 and the sailing before ours had around 100 people on board. There Captain announced late in our cruise people had been coming down with it again. Thank God we did not get it...

[A&L_Ont]

<blech> That just blew any thought of a mid-afternoon snack right out the window.

 

LOL, you said "blew".:p

 

If people read those points prior to getting on the cruise ship they might just take hand washing and cleanliness more seariously.

 

You are right though, really gross.